Scientific Name
Cestrum nocturnum L.
Common Names
evening scented jessamine, jessamine, lady of the night, lady-of-the-night, night blooming jasmine, night cestrum, night jessamine, night queen, night-blooming jasmine, night-flowering cestrum, night-flowering jasmine, night-scented jasmine, queen of the night
Family
Solanaceae
Origin
Native to Mexico, Central America (i.e. Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama) and Cuba.
Naturalised Distribution
Naturalised in the coastal districts of central and northern New South Wales and sparingly naturalised in south-eastern Queensland.
Also naturalised in southern USA, New Zealand and on several Pacific islands (i.e. Hawaii, Fiji, Tahiti, Samoa, the Cook Islands, Tonga and Guam).
Notes
This shrub has invaded wetter forests and open areas on several islands in the Pacific region, where it forms dense impenetrable thickets. In New Zealand it forms dense (occasionally pure) stands in forest understoreys, preventing the establishment of native plant seedlings. It also invades open forests, forest margins, streamsides, and shrublands in the warmer areas of New Zealand.
Night jessamine (Cestrum nocturnum) has already escaped gardens in New South Wales and is seen as a minor environmental weed or a potential environmental weed in Victoria and New South Wales (particularly in the wider Sydney and Blue Mountains region). It has also been recorded in the Kurringai Chase National Park on the northern edge of Sydney.
