Jasminum nudiflorum

Jasminum nudiflorum, the Winter jasmine, was much admired by the Victorians when it was first introduced to Britain from China in 1844. This is probably because they knew a good plant when they saw one. Now it has become so popular that it is hardly noticed until in the mid-winter it brightens up a dark corner, as it is doing now, in the area between the Curator’s House and the Gatehouse in Sheffield Botanical Gardens.   

It flowers best against a sunny wall, although not by nature a climber, and flowers especially well following a warm summer. A deciduous shrub, its bright yellow flowers appear on bare stems, hence nudiflorum meaning ‘naked flower’.  The dark green trifoliate leaves follow. Sadly, unlike other jasmines, and many other winter-flowering shrubs, the winter jasmine has no perfume.

We have to be thankful to Robert Fortune (1812-1880) a Scottish botanist and plant hunter who travelled extensively in China, risking his life, to bring such a variety of beautiful plants to this country.