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Coral Jasmine

Botanical Name(s): Nyctanthes Arbortristis
Family Name: Oleaceae
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Lamiales
Family: Oleaceae
Genus: Nyctanthes
Species: N. arbor-tristis
Popular Name(s): Night Flowering Jasmine, Parijat, Harsinger, Queen of the Night, Tree of Sorrow
Parts Used: Flowers, leaves, seeds.
Habitat: Cultivated in gardens across India

Description
Coral jasmine, commonly known as night jasmine, is an indigenous small tree, with a gray or greenish, rough and flaky bark. The shrub grows to a height of 10 meters. The simple leaves are opposite, with an entire margin about 6 to 12 cm long and 2 to 6.5 cm wide. The flowers are fragrant with a five-to-eight lobed corolla and orange-red centre, often seen in a cluster of two to seven. The petals are snowy white with dewdrops sitting on them. The fruit is flat, brown and heart-shaped to rounded-capsule, around 2 cm in diameter with two sections, each containing a single seed. Coral jasmine is native to Southern Asia, stretching across Northern Pakistan and Nepal through Northern India to Southeast Thailand. It is known as harsinghar and paarijat in Hindi; shephali, prajakta or prajakt in Sanskrit; shiuli in Bengali; pavazha malli in Tamil; singarei in Manipuri; paarijatam in Malayalam and ganga shiuli in Oriya. It is also referred to as the “tree of sorrow”, since the flowers lose their brightness in daytime.

Plant Chemicals
(+)- d-mannitol, tannin, glucose, glycerides of linoleic acid, oleic acid, lignoceric acid, stearic acid, palmitic acid and myristic acids, f3-stiosterol, tannic acid, methyl salicylate.

Uses & Benefits of Coral Jasmine