''Jasminium abyssinicum'' (forest jasmine) is a species of

jasmine Jasmine (botanical name: ''Jasminum'', pronounced ) is a genus of shrubs and vines in the olive family of Oleaceae. It contains around 200 species native to tropical and warm temperate regions of Eurasia, Africa, and Oceania. Jasmines are wid ...

, in the family

Oleaceae Oleaceae, also known as the olive family or sometimes the lilac family, is a taxonomic family of flowering shrubs, trees, and a few lianas in the order Lamiales. It presently comprises 28 genera, one of which is recently extinct.Peter S. Gree ...

. ''Jasminum abyssinicum'' is a strong to slender woody climber in high-altitude montane forests, climbing into the forest canopy with stems that can be robust up to 13 cm in diameter. The leaves are opposite,

trifoliolate The following terms are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (that is, the leaf blade or 'lamina' is undivided) or compound (that is, the leaf blade is divided into two or more leaflets) ...

; leaflets are broadly ovate with a distinct driptip, dark glossy green above, hairless except for pockets of hairs in the axils of the leaves. The flowers are produced at the ends twigs or in axils of leaves. The flowers are white, tinged with pink on the outside, sweetly scented with a corolla with 5 or sometimes 6 elliptic lobes. The fruits are a single- or bi-lobed berry 7 mm long, fleshy, glossy black. ''Jasminum abyssinicum'' is native to Africa from

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

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. It has been reported from

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Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

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, Congo-

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and

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name ''Transvaal''. * South African Republic (1856–1902; ...

Etymology

'Jasminum' is a

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

ized form of the

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

word, 'yasemin' for sweetly scented plants.Gledhill, David (2008). "The Names of Plants". Cambridge University Press. (hardback), (paperback). pp 220

Uses

The

Maasai people The Maasai (;) are a Nilotic peoples, Nilotic ethnic group inhabiting northern, central and southern Kenya and northern Tanzania, near the African Great Lakes region.

use this plant as a medicinal remedy for wounds. In sheep, it is traditionally used as a treatment for the

parasitic Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives (at least some of the time) on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The ent ...

nematode The nematodes ( or ; ; ), roundworms or eelworms constitute the phylum Nematoda. Species in the phylum inhabit a broad range of environments. Most species are free-living, feeding on microorganisms, but many are parasitic. Parasitic worms (h ...

'' Hemonchus contortus''.Komen, C., et al. (2005)
Efficacy of ''Jasminum abyssinicum'' treatment against ''Hemonchus contortus'' in sheep.
''Afr J Trad CAM'' 2:3 264-68.

References

External links

photo of herbarium specimen at Missouri Botanical Garden, type of ''Jasminum abyssinicum''
abyssinicum Flora of Burundi Flora of Cameroon Flora of Rwanda Flora of Eritrea Flora of Ethiopia Flora of Kenya Flora of Uganda Flora of Malawi Flora of Mozambique Flora of Zambia Flora of Zimbabwe Flora of South Africa Plants described in 1844 {{Oleaceae-stub