Yellow Jessamine Facts

Multiple Identities

• Yellow jessamine has a number of names. In South Carolina, it is officially known as Carolina jessamine, since that is the name used in the legislation adopting it as the state flower in 1924. Jessamine is a variant for jasmine, although yellow jessamine is not related to true jasmine (Jasminum spp.). Yellow jasmine is another name for yellow jessamine and it refers to the flower's sweet fragrance, variously described as heady, intoxicating or overpowering. Other names for this plant are Carolina wild woodbine, jasmine and evening trumpet flower.

The Fence Concealer

• The slender stems of yellow jessamine don't support themselves, but will climb on trellises, walls, arbors, fences and other plants. It doesn't strangle the plants it grows on, and this allows it to combine with other flowering vines for extended seasonal bloom in the same area. If not supported for climbing growth, yellow jessamine makes a mounding ground cover. Use it to completely cover unsightly chain-link fences or other functional rather than attractive fences that enclose swimming pools or tennis courts. Yellow jessamine has several cultivars. "Pride of Augusta," also called "Plena," has double flowers; others are "Major Wheeler," "Flava," "Margapata" and "Leo."

Undemanding Character

• Yellow jessamine prefers moist, sandy soils but adapts to other soil types as well. It blooms best in full sun, but will tolerate partial shade. The vine reacts well to pruning to keep it to size and is easy to control. Trim back the growth in spring after flowering. Yellow jessamine has no major pests or diseases and is easy to maintain. It can lose some of its leaves in the winter. Those that remain often take on purplish tones.

The Dark Side

• Despite its ease of growth and maintenance, there's a down side to growing the plant. All plant parts are poisonous if eaten. Eating the flowers can prove fatal. Touching the flowers can produce an allergic reaction, and the sap can cause dermatitis in people sensitive to the plant's chemicals. Even the nectar is poisonous, although bumblebees, honeybees and blue orchard bees visit the flowers for it. Plant tissues are full of alkaloid compounds related to strychnine. The plants can be lethal to livestock that graze on them.