What is the flower language and legend of the night-blooming jasmine?

The night-blooming jasmine (Cestrum nocturnum) is native to southern China, growing in hillside thickets. It is now cultivated for ornamental purposes in all southern provinces and regions. It blooms in summer and autumn, with yellow-green flowers that open in the evening, releasing waves of strong, penetrating fragrance, especially intense at night. In the south, it is mostly used to decorate courtyards, windowsides, pond edges and pavilion borders. Let us take a look below at what the flower language of the night-blooming jasmine is!

The flower language of the night-blooming jasmine

A pure heart, happiness, beauty, independence, rebellion。

The story of the night-blooming jasmine

Legend tells of a young man in ancient times whose flute playing was so beautiful that everyone knew of it. On a beautiful moonlit summer evening, he leaned against a tree playing his flute, when suddenly a beautiful fairy descended gracefully from the clouds. The fairy said: because Chang'e had heard his flute playing and loved it greatly, she invited the young man to the moon palace to serve as a musician.

Yet the young man longed to remain in the mortal world, and asked the fairy to delay one day before going to the moon palace, but the fairy did not agree, and only took the jade hairpin from her head and gave it to him as a keepsake. When the fairy tossed it to him in the air, the young man failed to catch it, and no matter how he searched, he could not find the jade hairpin that had fallen to the ground.

As a result, the jade hairpin became a flower, and the young man remained forever in the mortal world. This flower not only gives off fragrance at night, but especially under the bright moonlight emits a rich, fragrant scent, so it also has the elegant name of "lover in the night."

The legend of the night-blooming jasmine

Long ago, there was a fairy in the heavenly palace who, for violating the taboo of love, was turned into a seed by the Queen Mother of the West and scattered in the courtyard of an abandoned temple in the mortal world, guarding the Buddha statue year after year. As day after day passed, the seed gradually sprouted, unfolded its leaves, and would bloom holding sweet dew, then wither with the setting sun. Her dull life could only make her admire her own beauty in solitude, weeping all day long. Even when beautiful scenery occasionally passed by, it could not add the slightest brilliance to her life.

Finally one night, a firefly flew to her side, dancing and singing around her, bringing her the only joy in the mortal world. Only the firefly could understand her thoughts, making her show a happy smile. Under the arrangement of fate, they fell in love. That summer, she truly lived very happily. But perhaps, because love was not deep enough, promises seemed incomparably heavy. When everything that should not happen was about to appear, some foreboding of destiny would arise in the dark. "This temple seems to be getting smaller and smaller." The night-blooming jasmine always sighed helplessly like this.

She would never forget that unforgettable conversation.

"In this temple, you are still my greatest love."

"Then, once you leave the temple gate, you can fly freely, and even the sky will be covered with your footprints."

"There are too many stars in the sky. Each star is like a crystal-bright needle, and it will pierce me full of holes and leave me covered in wounds."

"But only a few stars in the sky are shining."

"Because the rest of the stars have rusted, I can never avoid the pain of the needle's prick."

The firefly would always say many things that made her happy, but she could not understand the voice deep in the firefly's heart.

Vows only reveal their moving quality under particular circumstances. Knowing it would not last forever, she still wanted to give everything for her persistence.

Summer was about to pass before her eyes. On a beautiful night, she finally mustered her courage, changed worldly conventions, and let her flowers bloom freely at night, waiting for the firefly to fly over and see the way her flowers bloomed. That night, the sky was full of stars, and the floral fragrance filled the entire temple, but the firefly still did not appear.

She would never know that the firefly was merely an envoy sent to the mortal world by the Queen Mother of the West, to plant a knot of love for her once. If she could stay far from this love, she would be able to return to her original world. Yet when true love comes, who can dodge it?

From then on, on every summer night, she bloomed beautiful flowers waiting for the firefly to fly back, but she could never wait for that day…….