''Osmanthus fragrans'' (), variously known as sweet osmanthus, sweet olive, tea olive, and fragrant olive, is a

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

species native to Asia from the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...

through the provinces of

Guizhou ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = , image_map = Guizhou in China (+all claims hatched).svg , mapsize = 275px , map_alt = Map showing the location of Guizhou Province , map_caption = Map s ...

Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...

and

Yunnan Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...

in China, Taiwan, southern Japan and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

as far south as Cambodia and Thailand.Flora of China
''Osmanthus fragrans''
/ref>Flora of

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

''Osmanthus fragrans''
/ref> In China, it is the "city flower" of the cities of

Hangzhou Hangzhou, , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ; formerly romanized as Hangchow is a sub-provincial city in East China and the capital of Zhejiang province. With a population of 13 million, the municipality comprises ten districts, two counti ...

Zhejiang ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = ( Hangzhounese) ( Ningbonese) (Wenzhounese) , image_skyline = 玉甑峰全貌 - panoramio.jpg , image_caption = View of the Yandang Mountains , image_map = Zhejiang i ...

;

Suzhou Suzhou is a major prefecture-level city in southern Jiangsu province, China. As part of the Yangtze Delta megalopolis, it is a major economic center and focal point of trade and commerce. Founded in 514 BC, Suzhou rapidly grew in size by the ...

Jiangsu Jiangsu is a coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province in East China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its capital in Nanjing. Jiangsu is the List of Chinese administra ...

; and

Guilin Guilin (Standard Zhuang: ''Gveilinz''), postal map romanization, formerly romanization of Chinese, romanized as Kweilin, is a prefecture-level city in the northeast of China's Guangxi, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. It is situated on the we ...

Guangxi Guangxi,; officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam (Hà Giang Province, Hà Giang, Cao Bằn ...

. In Japan, it is the "city tree" of Kitanagoya,

Aichi Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Aichi Prefecture has a population of 7,461,111 () and a geographic area of with a population density of . Aichi Prefecture borders Mie Prefecture to the ...

; Kashima,

Saga Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu. Saga Prefecture has a population of roughly 780,000 and has a geographic area of . Saga Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the northeast and Nagasaki Prefect ...

; Beppu,

Ōita Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Ōita Prefecture has a population of 1,081,646 (1 February 2025) and has a geographic area of 6,340 km2 (2,448 sq mi). Ōita Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the northwest, K ...

; and the "town tree" of Yoshitomi,

Fukuoka Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Fukuoka Prefecture has a population of 5,109,323 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,986 Square kilometre, km2 (1,925 sq mi). Fukuoka Prefecture borders ...

Etymology

The genus name ''Osmanthus'' is composed of two Greek etymons: "οσμη" (osme) meaning “smell” and "ανθος" (anthos) meaning "flower". The specific name ''fragrans'' is a borrowing from the Latin meaning “odorous, fragrant” referring to the intense fragrance of its flowers.

Growth

It is an

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has Leaf, foliage that remains green and functional throughout the year. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which lose their foliage completely during the winter or dry season. Consisting of many diffe ...

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

or small tree growing to tall. The leaves are long and broad, with an entire or finely toothed margin. The flowers are white, pale yellow, yellow, or orange-yellow, small, about long, with a four-lobed corolla diameter, and have a strong fragrance; they are produced in small clusters in the late summer and autumn. The fruit is a purple-black

drupe In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is a type of fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pip'' (UK), ''pit'' (US), ''stone'', or ''pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed ...

long containing a single hard-shelled seed; it is mature in the spring about six months after flowering.Mitomori
''Osmanthus fragrans''
(in Japanese

Huxley, A., ed. (1992). ''New RHS Dictionary of Gardening''. Macmillan .

Cultivation

It is cultivated as an

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or ''garden plants'' are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars th ...

East Asian gardens Garden design is the art and process of designing and creating plans for layout and planting of garden, gardens and landscapes. Garden design may be done by the garden owner themselves, or by professionals of varying levels of experience and expe ...

, and gardens in Europe, North America, Australia and elsewhere in the world for its deliciously fragrant flowers which carry the scent of ripe

peach The peach (''Prunus persica'') is a deciduous tree first domesticated and Agriculture, cultivated in China. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics, most called peaches and the glossy-skinned, non-fuzzy varieties called necta ...

es or

apricot An apricot (, ) is a fruit, or the tree that bears the fruit, of several species in the genus ''Prunus''. Usually an apricot is from the species '' P. armeniaca'', but the fruits of the other species in ''Prunus'' sect. ''Armeniaca'' are also ...

s. A number of

cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...

s have been selected for garden use, with varying flower colors, such as ''Osmanthus fragrans'' 'Yanhua' with its variegated foliage and orange blooms. Within Japan, the white- and orange-blossoming subspecies are distinguished as ''ginmokusei'' (lit. "silver osmanthus") and ''kinmokusei'' (lit. "gold osmanthus"), respectively.

Uses

Culinary

Chinese cuisine Chinese cuisine comprises cuisines originating from Greater China, China, as well as from Overseas Chinese, Chinese people from other parts of the world. Because of the Chinese diaspora and the historical power of the country, Chinese cuisine ...

, its flowers may be infused with

green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a com ...

black tea Black tea (also literally translated as red tea from various East Asian languages) is a type of tea that is more tea processing, oxidized than oolong, yellow tea, yellow, white tea, white, and green tea, green teas. Black tea is generally st ...

leaves to create osmanthus tea (). The flowers are also used to produce osmanthus-scented jam,

osmanthus cake Osmanthus cake () is a traditional sweet-scented Chinese pastry made with glutinous rice flour, honey, sweet osmanthus and rock sugar. It has crystal-clear appearance and a soft, slightly waxy texture. History Sweet-scented osmanthus cake ori ...

s, dumplings, soups, and osmanthus liquor. Osmanthus jam is used as an ingredient in a type of

gruel Gruel is a food consisting of some type of cereal—such as ground oats, wheat, rye, or rice—heated or boiled in water or milk. It is a thinner version of porridge that may be more often drunk rather than eaten. Historically, gruel has been a ...

called '' chátāng'', which is made from

sorghum ''Sorghum bicolor'', commonly called sorghum () and also known as great millet, broomcorn, guinea corn, durra, imphee, jowar, or milo, is a species in the Poaceae, grass genus ''Sorghum (genus), Sorghum'' cultivated for its grain. The grain i ...

millet Millets () are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. Most millets belong to the tribe Paniceae. Millets are important crops in the Semi-arid climate, ...

flour and sugar mixed with boiling water. This dish is associated with the northern city of

Tianjin Tianjin is a direct-administered municipality in North China, northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the National Central City, nine national central cities, with a total population of 13,866,009 inhabitants at the time of the ...

, although it may also be found in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. Osmanthus is also used for making many traditional Chinese desserts, such as osmanthus tangyuan with rice wine syrup.

Repellent

In some regions of northern India, especially in the state of

Uttarakhand Uttarakhand (, ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2007), is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. The state is bordered by Himachal Pradesh to the n ...

, the flowers of sweet osmanthus are used to protect clothes from insects.A manual of Indian timbers: an account of the growth, distribution, and uses of the trees and shrubs of India and Ceylon, with descriptions of their wood-structure
James Sykes Gamble, S. Low, Marston & Co, 1922, ''... Osmanthus, Lour ... A very sweet scented tree, the flowers having the scent of apricots. These flowers are used in China to flavour tea and in Kumaon to protect clothes from insects ...''

Medicinal

traditional Chinese medicine Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medicine, alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. A large share of its claims are pseudoscientific, with the majority of treatments having no robust evidence ...

, osmanthus tea has been used as an

herbal tea Herbal teas, technically known as herbal infusions, and less commonly called tisanes (UK and US , US also ), are beverages made from the infusion or decoction of herbs, spices, or other plant material in hot water. Often herb tea, or the plai ...

for the treatment of

irregular menstruation Irregular menstruation is a menstrual disorder whose manifestations include irregular cycle lengths as well as metrorrhagia ( vaginal bleeding between expected periods). The possible causes of irregular menstruation may vary. The common factors ...

. The extract of dried flowers showed neuroprotective, free-radical scavenging, antioxidative effects in ''

in vitro ''In vitro'' (meaning ''in glass'', or ''in the glass'') Research, studies are performed with Cell (biology), cells or biological molecules outside their normal biological context. Colloquially called "test-tube experiments", these studies in ...

'' assays.

Cultural associations

From the occasion of its blossoming, the sweet osmanthus is closely associated with the Chinese

Mid-Autumn Festival The Mid-Autumn Festival (for other names, see § Etymology) is a harvest festival celebrated in Chinese culture. It is held on the 15th day of the 8th month of the Chinese lunisolar calendar with a full moon at night, corresponding to mid- ...

Osmanthus wine Osmanthus wine, also known as cassia wine or Kuei Hua Chen Chiew, is a Chinese alcoholic beverage produced from weak '' baijiu'' and flavored with sweet osmanthus (''Osmanthus fragrans'') flowers. It is distilled but typically has an alcohol co ...

is a traditional choice for the "reunion wine" drunk with one's family, and osmanthus-flavored confections and teas may also be consumed.

Chinese mythology Chinese mythology () is mythology that has been passed down in oral form or recorded in literature throughout the area now known as Greater China. Chinese mythology encompasses a diverse array of myths derived from regional and cultural tradit ...

held that a sweet osmanthus grows on the moon and was endlessly cut by

Wu Gang Wu Gang (), formerly romanized as Wu Kang and also known as Wu Zhi in some sources,Eberhard, Wolfram. ''Dictionary of Chinese Symbols: Hidden Symbols in Chinese Life and Thought''pp. 76 ff Routledge & Kegan Paul (London), 2013. Accessed 12 Novem ...

: some versions held that he was forced to cut it every 1000 years lest its luxuriant growth overshadow the moon itself, others that he was obliged to cut it constantly only to see it regrow an equal amount every day.Eberhard, Wolfram. ''Dictionary of Chinese Symbols: Hidden Symbols in Chinese Life and Thought''
pp. 76 ff
Routledge & Kegan Paul (London), 2013. Accessed 12 November 2013. In late

imperial China The history of China spans several millennia across a wide geographical area. Each region now considered part of the Chinese world has experienced periods of unity, fracture, prosperity, and strife. Chinese civilization first emerged in the Y ...

, the osmanthus was also associated with the

imperial examination The imperial examination was a civil service examination system in History of China#Imperial China, Imperial China administered for the purpose of selecting candidates for the Civil service#China, state bureaucracy. The concept of choosing bureau ...

s, which were held in the 8th lunar month. The ''

chengyu ''Chengyu'' ( zh, t=, s=, first=t, p=chéngyǔ, tr=set phrase) are a type of traditional Chinese idiomatic expressions, most of which consist of four Chinese characters. ''Chengyu'' were widely used in Literary Chinese and are still common in ...

'' "pluck osmanthus in the

Toad Toad (also known as a hoptoad) is a common name for certain frogs, especially of the family Bufonidae, that are characterized by dry, leathery skin, short legs, and large bumps covering the parotoid glands. In popular culture (folk taxonomy ...

Palace" was a refined paraphrase for "passing the exam",Brendon, Juliet & al. ''The Moon Year: A Record of Chinese Customs and Festivals''
p. 410
Kelly & Walsh, 1927. Reprinted Routledge (Abingdon), 2011. Accessed 13 November 2013. u Jinfangbr>
A Dictionary of Chinese Idioms in the ''Dream of the Red Chamber''"">Dream_of_the_Red_Chamber.html" ;"title="A Dictionary of Chinese Idioms in the ''Dream of the Red Chamber">A Dictionary of Chinese Idioms in the ''Dream of the Red Chamber''" 2003. Accessed 13 November 2013. & in part since one would attract hangers-on as if he smelled as sweet as osmanthus thereafter. "Breaking the osmanthus twig and mounting the dragon" was another

euphemism A euphemism ( ) is when an expression that could offend or imply something unpleasant is replaced with one that is agreeable or inoffensive. Some euphemisms are intended to amuse, while others use bland, inoffensive terms for concepts that the u ...

, in this case, for sex Sex is the biological trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing organism produces male or female gametes. During sexual reproduction, a male and a female gamete fuse to form a zygote, which develops into an offspring that inheri ...