Cestrum parqui Seeds | Willow-leaf Jessamine
LATIN NAME: Cestrum parqui
COMMON NAME: Willow-Leaf Jessamine
Plant Profile
Known to gardeners as Willow-Leaf Jessamine, Cestrum parqui is an upright, bushy shrub in the nightshade family, native to warm regions of south America. Given room and time, it reaches roughly Three metres. These traits together are what have kept the plant in gardens for so long.
Science & Biotechnology
Research touching on Cestrum parqui ranges from the botany of the nightshade family to practical horticulture, including seed handling, propagation and the selection of superior forms. Willow-leaf jessamine has a real and distinguished place in the research. Its behaviour in gardens is well recorded, thanks to a long history in cultivation.
Uses & Benefits
Gardeners value Willow-Leaf Jessamine for its ornamental character, and the plant also fits naturally into herb, vegetable and cutting gardens. Ecologically, willow-leaf jessamine is a generous shrub of the garden. Its many small, tubular, scented flowers feed bees and many insects, and its fine, bushy, leafy growth gives a fine cover and a shelter to small birds and the wildlife. All parts of plant are potent and are never to be eaten or made into any home remedy. Mature plants need little attention in a well-chosen position.
Cestrums are fragrant tropical shrubs grown for their night perfume; several are toxic, so they are ornamentals only.
Growing from Seed
Seed is the natural starting point for Willow-Leaf Jessamine, and the process is uncomplicated. Fill a pot with a light seed compost, sow evenly on the surface, cover thinly and stand it somewhere warm, bright and evenly moist. Transplant the sturdiest seedlings to their permanent spots and let them develop without disturbance.
Our Take
Its role in herbal practice, noted above, adds depth to an already garden-worthy plant. The traditional uses covered above are what first made this species worth cultivating. Its wants are few — a sunny spot, soil that drains, and time to settle in.
Related Reading
Gardeners who grow Willow-Leaf Jessamine often pair it with these related subjects: