Sampaguita:National Flower of Philippines

Posted by Noemi on Jun 21, 2006 in Flora and Fauna | 0 comments

In 1934 an American governor-general proclaimed the Sampaguita as the Philippines’ national flower. It also happens to be the National Flower of Indonesia. This is a macro shot of the sampaguita flower. It looks rather big in this picture but the flower is really very small, probably no bigger than a fingernail. The sampaguita is a specie of the Jasmine

Taken only the botanical aspects, the “jasminium sambac” offers no big surprise. It grows as a woody vine or shrub reaching up to 1,2 meters. The plant bears a single flowers or blossom bundles at the top of her branches. The Sampaguita is blooming full-year and has white, small, dainty, star-shaped blossoms, which open at night and wilt in less than a day. Unique however is the distinct sweet fragrance of the blossoms. It does not bear seed , so the cultivation is brought up by cuttings. The Philippines have different domestic species of jasmine growing wildly. But the Sampaguita was imported in the 17th century from Himalayan areas. Source

The sampaguita shrub looks like this