Osmanthus/ɒzˈmænθəs/[3] is agenus of about 30species offlowering plants in thefamilyOleaceae. Most of the species are native to eastern Asia (China, Japan, Korea,Southeast Asia, theHimalayas, etc.) with a few species from theCaucasus,New Caledonia, andSumatra.[1][4] Osmanthus has been known in China since ancient times with the earliest writings coming from theWarring States period; the bookShanhai Jing: Nanshan Jing (Classic of Mountains and Seas: Classic of the Southern Mountains) states: "The first peak of the Que Mountain range is Mount Zhaoyao, rising by the western sea, where many osmanthus trees grow, and where rich veins of metals and jade lie hidden."[5]
Osmanthus range in size fromshrubs to medium-sizedtrees, 2–12 m (7–39 ft) tall. Theleaves are opposite,evergreen, and simple, with an entire, serrated or coarsely toothed margin. Theflowers are produced in spring, summer or autumn, each flower being about 1 cm long, white, with a four-lobed tubular-based corolla ('petals'). The flowers grow in smallpanicles, and in several species have a strong fragrance. Thefruit is a small (10–15 mm), hard-skinned dark blue to purpledrupe containing a singleseed.[4]
Osmanthus are popular shrubs in parks and gardens throughout the warm temperate zone. Severalhybrids andcultivars 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,Osmanthus fragrans var.aurantiacusMakino (fragrant orange-colored olive) (kin-mokusei) is a favorite garden shrub. Its small deep golden flowers appear in short-stalked clusters in late autumn. It has an intense sweet fragrance. A variant with white flowers (gin-mokusei) is also popular.
The flowers ofO. fragrans are used throughoutEast Asia for their scent and flavour, which is likened toapricot andpeach.
In China, osmanthus tea combinessweet osmanthus flowers withblack orgreen tea leaves. In Liuzhou, it is used to flavor a locally brewed beer. Sweet osmanthus and osmanthus tea are particularly associated with the city ofGuilin whose name translates to "Forest of Sweet Osmanthus".
Chinese osmanthus dishes also include a steamed bread made from blended rice and wheat flour and chestnuts boiled with dried osmanthus flowers.[13]
PepsiCo manufactures osmanthus flavored Pepsi for the Chinese domestic market.[14] Similarly, the White Rabbit candy company also manufactures Osmanthus flavoured White Rabbit milk candies which cater to Hong Kong and the Chinese domestic market.[15]
^José Ignacio De Juana Clavero, Cambios nomenclaturales en la sección Leiolea (Spach) P. S. Green, del género Osmanthus Lour. (Oleaceae), Bouteloua 22: 28–39 (XI-2015)
^Yong-Fu Li, Min Zhang, Xian-Rong Wang, Steven Paul Sylvester, Qi-Bai Xiang, Xuan Li, Meng Li, Hong Zhu, Cheng Zhang, Lin Chen, Xian-Gui Yi, Ling-Feng Mao, Yi-Fan Duan (2020) Revisiting the phylogeny and taxonomy ofOsmanthus (Oleaceae) including description of the new genusChengiodendron.Phytotaxa Vol. 436 No. 3: 19 March 2020. pp. 283–292. DOI:https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.436.3.6
^Julia Dupin, Cynthia Hong-Wa, Yohan Pillon, Guillaume Besnard. From the Mediterranean to the Pacific: re-circumscription towardsNotelaea s.l. and historical biogeography of a generic complex in Oleinae (Oleaceae).Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, In press, 10.1093/botlinnean/boac024.hal-03633162
