Genus: Nycanthes arbor-tristis
Common name: Coral Jasmine / Night flowering Jasmine/ Parijat / Shiuli / Shefali / Harsingar
Come September and the coral jasmine tree comes into full bloom. I am blessed to have two of these trees just outside of my balcony in the garden below. Every morning the grass and the road beneath the tree has a fresh shower of these uber fragrant blossoms. I just love the sight and smell of the night flowering jasmine a lot.
Its a childhood memory of being fascinated by this tree as one light touch on the branches and I would be showered with flowers. As a child, I was entertained by the grown ups every morning so.
Its commonly called Harsingar and the flowers bloom at night; hence earning it the name night flowering jasmine. The coral orange stalks are a beautiful contrast to the star shaped white petals. Its a dusk to dawn flowering, and in some places its also called “the sorrow tree”. In fact, arbor-tristis literally translated means sad tree.
Parijat or Shiuli is the official flower of West Bengal and signals the oncoming of the Durga Puja season. I just love to gather these flowers every morning and fill them in a glass container.
There is an interesting mythology tale attached to this tree, involving the mischievous Lord Krishna and his two wives. Its said that the Parijat tree came out during the samudra manthan and Lord Krishna battled with Indradev for it. His wife Satyabhama asked him to plant the tree in her garden. Not wanting to upset his other wife, Krishna planted the tree in Satyabhama’s garden but with the blooms falling over the wall into Rukmani’s garden.
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Joining in the #Thursdaytreelove linky with Parul where we share a picture of a tree and mention in a few words why we are fascinated by it.
My previous post for this linky can be found here
We have a long and interesting history with Harshringar. The onset of winter meant a blooming Harshringar. And now the children love it too, we make it a point to pick up the flowers each time we are on a morning walk. The cream and orange combination is beautiful and the fragrance is lovely too. I love that Krishna story.
Oh how lovely that the kids do know about it and enjoy picking the flowers. So much is being lost on our Gen Next as the trees are disappearing and also the internet and stuff keeps them out of loop of such things. I am so glad I was able to absorb all this as a child and even today enjoy the flowers and look forward to the change of season with them 🙂
Sneaky Krishna, eh? 😀
Shiuli, this is also what the movie October was about right?
I love these flowers, although I have never seen them in real life. The orange streaks on white make it look so pretty.
I couldnt watch that movie beyond a point, so dont remember if thats what it was about.
Yeah these flowers are pretty special and I too love how the orange makes it pop out. Krishna has always been the devil who gets away with murder every time 😉
I love Harsingar. I have beautiful memories associated with this tree and the temple tree. Both are my favorite. My Nani used to tell me that when she was a little girl, her Mum (my par Nani) would dye clothes in orange using the stem of these flowers. Even when you try to squeeze the flower, the orange color will stay on your fingers. It’s a natural dye. I hadn’t heard of Krishna’s story. A smart move indeed. Thanks for joining, Thursday Tree Love, Shalini. You made me smile.
See you on the 10th 🙂
I love these October flowers of parijat, in my home we have navratri diya and we use only these flowers for shringar as they bloom during navrartri. These Night-flowering jasmine or raat ki rani is loaded with beneficial qualities. This tree was synonymus in october movie too. Thanks for sharing parijat tree pics.
Loads of peeps have mentioned this movie though I dont remember the flowers from it. Actually I couldnt watch it completely. Maybe now I should. BTW these are not raat ki rani- thats another creeper which has greenish white tube like flowers- almost like rajnigandha but smaller.