Yellow Jessamine Is The Official State Flower Of South Carolina. Yellow jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens) was designated as the official South Carolina State Flower in 1924. The flower was awarded the National Flower Of South Carolina status because it is native to South Carolina and is found throughout the state. South Carolinians revere the yellow jessamine because it is a premonitor of the upcoming spring and the delicate yellow flowers symbolize the pureness of gold mined in the state.
The fragrance of the flower welcome visitors to the woodlands of the state and their perpetual return from the dead winter symbolizes the determination of South Carolinians. The State Flower Of South Carolina yellow jessamine is entwined to the state that it is sometimes known as the Carolina jessamine and is even featured in the state’s quarter.
The South Carolina State Flower yellow jessamine is a vine that grows abundantly across the southeastern United States but grows best in South Carolina. The flowers adorn yards and suburb gardens around Charleston. The vine snakes around trees, electric poles, and buildings. It is uncommon to see mailboxes in South Carolina covered by the yellow Jessamine. Despite the delicate perfume and the sweet name, the National Flower Of South Carolina yellow jessamine is a poisonous plant. Wildlife and bees avoid it at all costs. Bees that feed on nectar from the plant produce honey that can kill an entire colony.
Features of the Yellow Jessamine
- The yellow jessamine grows in the coastal and piedmont regions of the southeastern United States. It is an early flowering vine with yellow, funnel-shaped, and scented flowers.
- The stem of the plant is thin, greenish, wiry, and glabrous.
- The vine climbs trees, scramble over rock piles and fences, and even cover rooftops.
- The jessamine leaves are opposite, simple, lanceolate, evergreen, rarely ovate, rounded, and short-petioled.
- They are dark green but develop to purple-green or yellow-green during the winter
- The flowers are funnel-shaped, yellow, solitary or in cymes, and fragrant.
- The official state wildflower