''Murraya paniculata'', commonly known as orange jasmine, orange jessamine, china box or mock orange, is a species of shrub or small tree in the family

Rutaceae The Rutaceae is a family, commonly known as the rueRUTACEAE
in BoDD – Botanical Der ...

and is native to South Asia, Southeast Asia and Australia. It has smooth bark,

pinnate Pinnation (also called pennation) is the arrangement of feather-like or multi-divided features arising from both sides of a common axis. Pinnation occurs in biological morphology, in crystals, such as some forms of ice or metal crystals, an ...

leaves with up to seven egg-shaped to elliptical leaflets, fragrant white or cream-coloured flowers and oval, orange-red berries containing hairy seeds.

Description

''Murraya paniculata'' is a tree that typically grows to a height of but often flowers and forms fruit as a shrub, and has smooth pale to whitish bark. It has pinnate leaves up to long with up to seven egg-shaped to elliptical or

rhombus In plane Euclidean geometry, a rhombus (plural rhombi or rhombuses) is a quadrilateral whose four sides all have the same length. Another name is equilateral quadrilateral, since equilateral means that all of its sides are equal in length. Th ...

-shaped. The leaflets are glossy green and

glabrous Glabrousness (from the Latin '' glaber'' meaning "bald", "hairless", "shaved", "smooth") is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part o ...

, long and wide on a

petiolule In botany, the petiole () is the stalk that attaches the leaf blade to the stem, and is able to twist the leaf to face the sun. This gives a characteristic foliage arrangement to the plant. Outgrowths appearing on each side of the petiole in som ...

long. The flowers are fragrant and are arranged in loose groups, each flower on a pedicel long. There are five (sometimes four)

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined ...

s about long and five (sometimes four) white or cream-coloured petals long. Flowering occurs from June to March (in Australia) and the fruit is an oval, glabrous, orange-red berry long containing densely hairy seeds.

Taxonomy

Orange jasmine was first formally described in 1767 by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, ...

who gave it the name ''Chalcas paniculata'' in '' Mantissa Plantarum''. In 1820, William Jack changed the name to ''Murraya paniculata'' in his book ''Descriptions of Malayan Plants alayan Miscellanies'.

Distribution and habitat

''Murraya paniculata'' grows in rainforest, often as an understorey shrub in vine thickets, including behind beaches. It is native to South and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

, China and

Australasia Australasia is a region that comprises Australia, New Zealand and some neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term is used in a number of different contexts, including geopolitically, physiogeographically, philologically, and ecolo ...

, while the distribution area extends from Pakistan via India, Sri Lanka and southern China to Taiwan, the Philippines, where it is called ''kamuníng'', the Ryūkyū Islands and the Mariana Islands, to the south via Malaysia and Indonesia to New Guinea and parts of Australia. In Australia, it is native to the

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia * Kimberley (Western Australia) ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Kimberley * Kimberley Warm Springs, Tasmania * Kimberley, Tasmania a small town * County of Kimberley, a ...

region of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to ...

, northern parts of the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Au ...

, and parts of

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

. The species has been naturalised in other places, sometimes becoming an invasive weed, including on many Pacific islands. In Queensland, it is regarded as different from the cultivated form ''Murraya paniculata'' 'Exotica', which is regarded as one of the most invasive plant species in southeast Queensland.

Uses

''Murraya paniculata'' is cultivated as an ornamental tree or hedge because of its hardiness, wide range of soil tolerance (''M. paniculata'' may grow in

alkaline In chemistry, an alkali (; from ar, القلوي, al-qaly, lit=ashes of the saltwort) is a basic, ionic salt of an alkali metal or an alkaline earth metal. An alkali can also be defined as a base that dissolves in water. A solution of a ...

, clayey, sandy, acidic and

loam Loam (in geology and soil science) is soil composed mostly of sand ( particle size > ), silt (particle size > ), and a smaller amount of clay (particle size < ). By weight, its mineral composition is about 40–40–20% concentration of sand–si ...

y soils), and is suitable for larger hedges. The plant flowers throughout the year and produces small, fragrant flower clusters which attract bees, while the fruits attract small frugivorous birds.

Propagation

The orange jessamine is sexually propagated by its seeds. The fruits are eaten by birds, which then pass the seeds out in their

feces Feces ( or faeces), known colloquially and in slang as poo and poop, are the solid or semi-solid remains of food that was not digested in the small intestine, and has been broken down by bacteria in the large intestine. Feces contain a rela ...

. It may also be asexually propagated by softwood cuttings.

Diseases

''M. paniculata'' is vulnerable to soil nematodes, scales,

sooty mold Sooty mold (also spelled sooty mould) is a collective term for different Ascomycete fungi, which includes many genera, commonly '' Cladosporium'' and '' Alternaria''. It grows on plants and their fruit, but also environmental objects, like fences ...

and

whiteflies Whiteflies are Hemipterans that typically feed on the undersides of plant leaves. They comprise the family Aleyrodidae, the only family in the superfamily Aleyrodoidea. More than 1550 species have been described. Description and taxonomy The ...

. It is the preferred host to the insect pest ''Diaphorina citri'', the citrus psyllid. This psyllid is the vector for the citrus greening disease.

Gallery

Starr_061105-9627_Murraya_paniculata.jpg, Flowers and leaves Murraya paniculata line draing.gif, Line drawing showing flowers and fruit Murraya paniculata fruits closeup.jpg, Fruits Starr_061105-9634_Murraya_paniculata.jpg, Shrubby formation in cultivation Feuillage_de_Murraya_paniculata.jpg, Foliage

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q238591

paniculata A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a panicle are of ...

Flora of tropical Asia Flora of Western Australia Flora of the Northern Territory Flora of Queensland Sapindales of Australia Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Plants described in 1767