Yellow Jessamine

Gelsemium sempervirens (L.)

FAMILY LOGANIACEAE

Flowers:

March-early May

Description:

Twining (left to right) woody vine with opposite, pointed, evergreen leaves; trailing or high climbing; blades smooth, entire; flowers fragrant.

Range-habitat:

Common throughout the piedmont and coastal plain; in the coastal plain in oak-hickory, beech, pine-mixed hardwood and maritime forests, fence rows, thickets, and roadsides.

Comments:

This is the state flower of South Carolina and is often cultivated. All parts are poisonous when taken internally, but not to the touch. Children have been poisoned by sucking nectar from the flowers, probably mistaking them for honeysuckle.

Description taken from Dr Richard D. Porcher's book Wildflowers of the Lowcountry (pub. 1995, Copyright University of South Carolina Press, ISBN 1-57003-027-8)