Big Island Invasive Species Committee (BIISC)

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Night-blooming Jasmine

Night-blooming Jasmine

DO NOT PLANT: HPWRA Score: 17, High-Risk

Night-blooming Jasmine (Cestrum nocturnum), is a highly invasive plant in the horticultural trade. This plant has been observed growing in native koa forests, preventing new koa seedlings from establishing. It is found thriving in areas where there are no homes! Birds, attracted to the white pea-sized fruit, consume the fruit containing viable seed and fly away where they excrete the seed, which survives passage through the bird’s gut. It is tough to control in a landscape once established and considered one of Hawai’i’s worst invasive plants.

  • night blooming jasmine
    Abundant flowers.
  • Thickets of night-blooming jasmine have completely taken over the understory of this koa forest in Kā‛ū.

Photos: BIISC

Impacts:

  • Matures quickly and forms dense thickets
  • Self-compatible
  • Spread by seed and vegetatively
  • Unpalatable to grazing animals
  • Scent of flowers can cause respiratory issues in some people

Description:

  • Fast-growing, woody, sprawling shrub that can grow 6′-20′ tall
  • Branches are often long and curve downward
  • Tubular, white and highly fragrant flowers
  • The leaves are shiny, alternate, and elliptical shaped that can get up to 6″ long
  • The fruits are white and pea-sized with a styrofoam-like texture, each containing 10 seeds

Grow these instead

Alahe‛e

Any gardenia species

Puakenikeni

Photos: Forest & Kim Starr

Download No Grow Card- Night-blooming jasmine

Big Island Invasive Species Committee (BIISC)

23 East Kawili Street, Hilo, HI 96720
(808) 933-3340

  

biisc@hawaii.edu

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