Osmanthus


Osmanthus is a genus of about 30 species of flowering plants in the family Oleaceae. Most of the species are native to eastern Asia with a few species from the Caucasus, New Caledonia and Sumatra.
Osmanthus range in size from shrubs to small trees, tall. The leaves are opposite, evergreen, and simple, with an entire, serrated or coarsely toothed margin. The flowers are produced in spring, summer or autumn, each flower being about 1 cm long, white, with a four-lobed tubular-based corolla. The flowers grow in small panicles, and in several species have a strong fragrance. The fruit is a small, hard-skinned dark blue to purple drupe containing a single seed.

Species

Species accepted:
  1. Osmanthus armatus Diels – Shaanxi, Sichuan, Hubei, Hunan
  2. Osmanthus attenuatus P.S.Green – Guangxi, Guizhou, Yunnan
  3. Osmanthus austrocaledonicus Knobl. – New Caledonia
  4. Osmanthus cooperi Hemsl. – Anhui, Fujian, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Zhejiang
  5. Osmanthus cymosus P.S.Green – New Caledonia
  6. Osmanthus decorus Kasapligil – Caucasian osmanthus – Turkey, Caucasus
  7. Osmanthus delavayi Franch. – Guizhou, Sichuan, Yunnan
  8. Osmanthus didymopetalus P.S.Green – Guangdong, Hainan
  9. Osmanthus enervius Masam. & T.Mori – Taiwan, Nansei-shoto
  10. Osmanthus fordii Hemsl. – Guangdong, Guangxi
  11. Osmanthus fragrans Lour. – Sweet osmanthus, sweet olive, fragrant tea olive – Himalayas, Indochina, Japan, China, Taiwan
  12. Osmanthus gracilinervis L.C.Chia ex R.L.Lu – Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang
  13. Osmanthus hainanensis P.S.Green – Hainan
  14. Osmanthus henryi P.S.Green – Guizhou, Hunan, Yunnan
  15. Osmanthus heterophyllus P.S.Green – Holly osmanthus, holly olive, false holly, hiiragi – Japan, Taiwan, Nansei-shoto
  16. Osmanthus insularis Koidz. – Korea, Japan, Nansei-shoto, Ogasawara-shoto,
  17. Osmanthus iriomotensis T.Yamaz – Nansei-shoto
  18. Osmanthus kaoi S.Y.Lu – Taiwan
  19. Osmanthus lanceolatus Hayata – Taiwan
  20. Osmanthus monticola Knobl. – New Caledonia
  21. Osmanthus pubipedicellatus L.C.Chia ex H.T.Chang – Guangdong
  22. Osmanthus reticulatus P.S.Green – Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hunan, Sichuan
  23. Osmanthus rigidus Nakai – Kyushu
  24. Osmanthus serrulatus Rehder in C.S.Sargent – Sichuan
  25. Osmanthus suavis King ex C.B.Clarke in J.D.Hooker – Assam, Bhutan, Nepal, Sikkim, Myanmar, Yunnan, Tibet
  26. Osmanthus urceolatus P.S.Green - Sichuan, Hubei
  27. Osmanthus venosus Pamp. – Hubei
  28. Osmanthus yunnanensis P.S.Green – Yunnan, Tibet
Species transferred to Cartrema:
  1. Osmanthus americanus A.Gray – Devilwood – southeastern US from Texas to Virginia; eastern and southern Mexico
  2. Osmanthus floridanus Chapman - Florida
  3. Osmanthus marginatus Hemsl. – Nansei-shoto, Taiwan, Vietnam, Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, Zhejiang
  4. Osmanthus matsumuranus Hayata – Assam, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Anhui, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Jiangxi, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang
  5. Osmanthus minor P.S.Green – Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Jiangxi, Zhejiang
  6. Osmanthus scortechinii King & Gamble – Thailand, Sumatra, Pen Malaysia
  7. Osmanthus sumatranus P.S.Green – Sumatra
;Garden hybrids
Osmanthus are popular shrubs in parks and gardens throughout the warm temperate zone. Several hybrids and cultivars have been developed. Osmanthus flower on old wood and produce more flowers if unpruned. A pruned shrub often produces few or no flowers for one to five or more years, before the new growth matures sufficiently to start flowering.
In Japan, sweet osmanthus is a favorite garden shrub. Its small white flowers appear in short-stalked clusters in late autumn. It has an intense sweet fragrance. A variant with deep golden flowers is also popular.

Uses

The flowers of O. fragrans are used throughout East Asia for their scent and flavour, which is likened to apricot and peach.
In China, osmanthus tea combines sweet osmanthus flowers with black or green tea leaves. Traditional Chinese medicine claims that osmanthus tea improves complexion and helps rid the body of excess nitric oxide, a compound linked to the formation of cancer, diabetes, and renal disease.
Sweet osmanthus and osmanthus tea are particularly associated with the city of Guilin.
Osmanthus wine is prepared by infusing whole Osmanthus fragrans flowers in huangjiu or other types of rice wine and is traditionally consumed during the Mid-Autumn Festival.