Taxonomy and Nomenclature
Jasminum sambac is classified under the genus Jasminum under the tribe Jasmineae. It belongs to the olive family Oleaceae.
Despite the English common name of "Arabian jasmine", Jasminum sambac is not originally native to Arabia. The habits of Jasminum sambac support a native habitat of humid tropical climates and not the arid climates of the Middle East. Early Chinese records of the plant points to the origin of Jasminum sambac as eastern South Asia and Southeast Asia. Jasminum sambac (and nine other species of the genus) were spread into Arabia and Persia by man, where they were cultivated in gardens. From there, they were introduced to Europe where they were grown as ornamentals and were known under the common name "sambac" in the 18th century.
Medieval Arabic "zanbaq" meant jasmine flower-oil from the flowers of any species of jasmine. This word entered late medieval Latin as "sambacus" and "zambacca" with the same meaning as the Arabic, and then in post-medieval Latin plant taxonomy the word was adopted as a label for the J. sambac species. The J. sambac species is a good source for jasmine flower-oil in terms of the quality of the fragrance and it continues to be cultivated for this purpose for the perfume industry today. The Jasminum officinale species is also cultivated for the same purpose, and probably to a greater extent.
In 1753, Carl Linnaeus first described the plant as Nyctanthes sambac in the first edition of his famous book Systema Naturae. In 1789, William Aiton reclassified the plant to the genus Jasminum. He also coined the common English name of "Arabian jasmine", cementing the misconception that it was Arabian in origin.
Other common names of Jasminum sambac include:
- Arabic - Full (فل)
- Bengali - Bel/Beli (বেলীফুল)
- Chamorro - Sampagita
- Chinese - Mo Li Hua (茉莉花)
- English - Arabian jasmine, Tuscan jasmine, Sambac jasmine
- Filipino and Spanish - Sampaguita
- Gujarati - Mogro
- Hawaiian - Pikake
- Hindi and Marathi - Moghrā
- Indonesian - Melati Putih
- Kannada - Dundu Mallige
- Konkani - Mogare
- Malay - Melur or Melati
- Malayalam - Koda Mulla (കൊട മുല്ല)
- Oriya - Juhi Mahli (ଜୁହି ମହ୍ଲି)
- Persian - Yasmeen
- Prakrit - Malliā
- Punjabi - Motiya (موتیا)
- Sanskrit - Malati (मालती) or Mallika (मल्लिका)
- Sinhala - Saman (සමන්)
- Tagalog - Sampagita
- Tahitian, Maori, and Marquesan - Pitate
- Tamil - Kundumalli (குண்டுமல்லி)
- Telugu - Mallepuvvu
- Thai - Malila (มะลิลา)
- Turkish - Ful
- Urdu - Baila or Motiya (موتیا)
- Vietnamese - Hoa Nhài
- Japanese - Mari (茉莉, reading:まり)
- Greek - Fouli (Φούλι)
Read more about this topic: Jasminum Sambac