Is Orange Jessamine Poisonous? Flowering Time and Flower-Promoting Care Methods Explained

Orange jessamine flower, also known as qianlixiang, wanlixiang, jiuqiuxiang and jiushuxiang, is a common small tree of the Rutaceae family in southern China. Because of its long flowering period, rich fragrance and evergreen foliage all year round, it is deeply favored by people. So is the orange jessamine flower poisonous? When does it bloom? How should it be grown so that it blooms?

Is it poisonous?

At present, there is no record in any literature or material of orange jessamine being poisonous. So it is non-toxic.

Flowering time:

The flowering period of orange jessamine is relatively long. It generally blooms between April and September each year, and sometimes it also blooms in autumn and winter. After orange jessamine blooms, it produces fruit, with the fruiting period between September and December.

Flower form:

The flowers of orange jessamine are mainly terminal or axillary. It usually bears no more than 10 flowers, and when there are many, more than 50. The petals of orange jessamine are oblanceolate or oblong. When fully open, they curl back somewhat. The flowers are mainly white, but carry some pale yellow oil dots. The flowers of orange jessamine come with a fragrance that is very rich.

Planting tips:

1. Promoting germination

Soak the seeds in warm hot water (at a temperature similar to face-washing water) for 12-24 hours, until the seeds absorb water and swell up. For very common seeds that germinate easily, this step can be skipped.

2. Sowing

For tiny seeds that are hard to pick up with the hands or other tools, you can moisten one end of a toothpick with water and stick the seeds one by one onto the surface of the growing medium, then cover them with 1 cm of medium. After that, place the sowing pot into water, with the water depth at 1/2 to 2/3 of the pot's height, and let the water slowly soak upward (this method is called the “pot soaking method”).

For larger seeds that can be picked up with the hands or other tools, place the seeds directly into the growing medium and sow them in holes at a spacing of 3 × 5 cm. After sowing, cover with medium to a thickness 2-3 times that of the seeds. After sowing, you can moisten the sowing medium with a sprayer or a fine-holed watering can. Later, when the potting soil is slightly dry, water again, still taking care not to water too forcefully, so as not to wash the seeds out.

3. Management

After sowing in late autumn, early spring or winter, when a cold wave and low temperatures occur, you can wrap the orange jessamine pot with plastic film to help keep it warm and moist. After the seedlings emerge, uncover the film in time, and let the seedlings receive sunlight before 9:30 every morning or after 3:30 in the afternoon, otherwise the seedlings will grow very weak and spindly. After most of the seeds have sprouted, thinning is needed as appropriate: pull out the diseased and unhealthy seedlings so that the remaining seedlings have a certain amount of space between them. When most of the seedlings have grown 3 or more leaves, they can be transplanted.

4. Other

Orange jessamine can also be propagated by cuttings, though generally softwood cuttings are taken in late spring and early autumn using branches of the current year, or hardwood cuttings are taken in early spring using branches from the previous year.