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Trachelospermum jasminoides (Lindl.) Lem.

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Trachelospermum jasminoides' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/trachelospermum/trachelospermum-jasminoides/). Accessed 2026-08-08.

Family

  • Apocynaceae

Genus

Synonyms

  • Rhyncospermum jasminoides Lindl.

Other taxa in genus

Glossary

inflorescence
Flower-bearing part of a plant; arrangement of flowers on the floral axis.
synonym
(syn.) (botanical) An alternative or former name for a taxon usually considered to be invalid (often given in brackets). Synonyms arise when a taxon has been described more than once (the prior name usually being the one accepted as correct) or if an article of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature has been contravened requiring the publishing of a new name. Developments in taxonomic thought may be reflected in an increasing list of synonyms as generic or specific concepts change over time.
variety
(var.) Taxonomic rank (varietas) grouping variants of a species with relatively minor differentiation in a few characters but occurring as recognisable populations. Often loosely used for rare minor variants more usefully ranked as forms.
Vulnerable
IUCN Red List conservation category: ‘facing a high risk of extinction in the wild’.

References

There are no active references in this article.

Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Trachelospermum jasminoides' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/trachelospermum/trachelospermum-jasminoides/). Accessed 2026-08-08.

Trachelospermum jasminoides

Trachelospermum jasminoides (Kew, London, UK, 17 June 2026). Image John Grimshaw.

Editorial Note

Var. pubescens, given its own entry by Bean, is no longer recognised at botanical rank. The text below has been adapted to reflect this. 

An evergreen twiner, growing 10 or 12 ft high, young shoots hairy. Leaves oval-lanceolate, 11⁄2 to 31⁄2 in. long, 1⁄2 to 1 in. wide, tapering at both ends, the tip blunt, downy beneath when young, becoming glabrous, dark glossy green above; stalk about 1⁄8 in. long. Flowers very fragrant, produced in July and August on glabrous, slender-stalked cymes, 11⁄2 to 2 in. long, usually on short lateral twigs. Calyx-lobes spathulate, reflexed at the tips, as long as the narrow basal part of the corolla and about half as long as the total length of the tube. Corolla pure white, scarcely 1 in. across, the tube about 1⁄4 in. long. Bot. Mag., t. 4737.

Native of China and Japan; introduced by Fortune from Shanghai in 1844. It was long grown in greenhouses, where its flowers were prized for their fragrance, but it is also now grown on walls in the south and west. It is rather slow-growing when young, and then more vulnerable to frost than when it is established.

[Bean recognised var. pubescens Makino with downy leaves, young stems and inflorescence axes, since reduced to synonymy with the species (leaves to about 3 in. long and 2 in. wide). He noted that ‘to this variety probably belongs T. jasminoides ‘Japonicum’, which is said to climb to the top of high walls in the South of France and in Italy. The leaves usually become bronze-tinted in autumn. Flowers white. This trachelospermum was originally known in gardens as T. japonicum and more recently has been identified as T. majus Nakai, but according to Ohwi, in Flora of Japan, this is a synonym of T. asiaticum.’]

Trachelospermum jasminoides

Trachelospermum jasminoides absconding over a wall (Kew, London, UK, 17 June 2026). Image John Grimshaw.

Trachelospermum jasminoides

Trachelospermum jasminoides (RBG Kew, 17 June 2026). Image John Grimshaw.

'Variegatum'

Synonyms / alternative names
Trachelospermum jasminoides 'Wilsonii'

Leaves shorter and broader, bordered and blotched with creamy white.

Trachelospermum jasminoides 'Variegatum'

Trachelospermum jasminoides 'Variegatum' (RBG Kew, 17 June 2026). Image John Grimshaw.

Trachelospermum jasminoides 'Variegatum'

Trachelospermum jasminoides 'Variegatum' (RBG Kew, 17 June 2026). Image John Grimshaw.

'Wilsonii'

Trachelospermum Wilson 776 was raised from seeds collected in 1907 in Hupeh. There is no corresponding field-specimen, and no flowering specimen has been seen, but the plants probably belong to T. jasminoides. They are valued chiefly for their foliage, the leaves having conspicuously light green veins and a bronzy tint. They are sometimes called T. jasminoides ‘Wilsonii’.

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