Jasmine
Parts Usually Used
Flowers
Description of Plant(s) and Culture
Jasmine is a vinelike plant that has opposite, dark green, pinnate leaves and sweet-smelling white flowers.
Where Found
Grows in warm parts of the eastern hemisphere and now cultivated in gardens in the southern United States.
Medicinal Properties
Calmative
Legends, Myths and Stories
Jasmine, originating in the Near East, takes its name from the Persian word jesamin. Its beautiful white flower is most famous for the perfumes made from its oil. In the first century AD, Dioscorides, a Greek physician and author of the famous book on medical herbs De Materia Medica, tells us that the Persians used jasmine oil to perfume the air at their banquets. To the Chinese the jasmine symbolizes womanly sweetness.
In medieval Christian art, jasmine was associated with the Virgin Mary. Dreaming of jasmine is supposed to portend good fortune, especially in love. According to folk lore, rubbing the body with the oil of jasmine can be sexually arousing.
Uses
Historical herbals noted that jasmine flowers were utilized to calm the nerves, while other traditions suggested the scent possessed aphrodisiac qualities. The oil was sometimes combined with almond oil for topical body massage. In Indian folk medicine, practitioners applied jasmine as a remedy for snakebites and utilized the leaves for ocular complaints. Another variety, yellow jasmine (Gelsemium sempervirens), was historically categorized by herbalists as an analgesic, sedative, and hypotensive agent, and was employed in cases of neuralgia.
The flowers of Jasminum grandiflorum, known in Sanskrit as Jati, were traditionally utilized in herbal practice for headaches, fever, sunstroke, conjunctivitis, dermatitis, cystitis, and bleeding disorders.
How Sold
Many jasmine teas are sold today.
Warning
Use this herb under medical supervision.
Bibliography
, Simon & Schuster/Fireside, Rockefeller Center 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020 Indian Herbalogy of North America , by Alma R. , Horticultural Hall, 300 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, 1973 Eastern/Central Medicinal Plants , by Steven Foster and James A. , Houghton Mifflin Company, 215 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10000 The Herb Book , by John Lust, Bantam Books, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY.
copyright 1974. The Yoga of Herbs: An Ayurvedic Guide to Herbal Medicine , by Dr. David Frawley & Dr. Vasant Lad, Lotus Press, Twin Lakes, Wisconsin, Second edition, 1988. , 15 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10023 The Rodale Herb Book: How to Use, Grow, and Buy Nature’s Miracle Plants (An Organic gardening and farming book) , edited by William H. Hylton, Rodale Press, Inc. , 1974