Jasminum Auriculatum and J. Sambac

Jasminum, a large genus of the family Oleaceae, is distributed over a wide area of the Old World constituting East and South Asia, the Malay Archipelago, Africa, and Australia. ² The majority of the species are located in the region of India, China, and Malaysia. ¹ There are different opinions about the number of species comprising the genus: Hooker ¹² puts it at 90, whereas others ^{2 , 3 , 39} claim the number to range between 200 and 300. Zevan and Zhukovsky ⁴⁰ have identified two centers of diversity, the Hindustani center for J. grandi-florum and I. sambac and the Central Asian center for J. officinale. In India, the genus is found almost throughout the country. Three to four species, including J. auriculatum and J. sambac, are widely cultivated.