Kauaʻi record · kba_plant_cestrum_nocturnum
Night-blooming Jasmine
Cestrum nocturnum
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About Night-blooming Jasmine
Night-blooming Jasmine (Cestrum nocturnum) is an introduced tree treated as naturalized on Kauaʻi by Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist and the 2026 Smithsonian checklist. Current extent is unassessed. A wet-tropical shrub or small tree native from Mexico to Venezuela, occurring across several forest types and secondary vegetation at lower elevations in its native range. It is widely cultivated for night-fragrant flowers and has naturalized beyond that range. Naturalized on Kauaʻi in the Bishop Museum 2025 checklist (Status=nat; K=K), with Smithsonian 2026 Kauaʻi corroboration; public occurrence is island-level only. This evidence does not quantify current abundance or ecological effects.
Kauaʻi evidence
Taxonomic identity, tree form, diagnostic morphology and island occurrence use the linked reviewed sources. Historical planting, cultivation, naturalization and invasive status are separate. Generated imagery is not occurrence evidence.
Names and classification
- Scientific name
- Cestrum nocturnum
- Common names
- Night-blooming Jasmine · Night-blooming jessamine · Night-scented cestrum
- Other names
- Cestrum nocturnum · Night-blooming jasmine · Night-blooming jessamine · Night-scented cestrum
- Record type
- Species
Kauaʻi occurrence and status
- Kauaʻi occurrence
- Recorded on Kauaʻi
- Origin
- Introduced
- Conservation status
- Not yet assessed
- Evidence date
- 2026-10-06
- Evidence limits
- Current island-wide abundance, occupied habitat, reproductive distribution, population trend, and ecological effects on Kauaʻi remain unassessed.
Habitat and ecology
- Habitats
- Not yet assessed
- Food and resource needs
- Not yet assessed
- Reproduction
- Bisexual tubular flowers develop into white berries with one or several seeds. Successful recruitment requires flowering, pollination, fruit maturation, dispersal, and seedling establishment. Kauaʻi-specific pollinators, fruit dispersers, phenology, and recruitment are unmeasured.
- Shelter
- Not yet assessed
- Growth form
- Small tree; Shrub
Threats and conservation
- Monitoring
- Not yet assessed
- Data gaps
- Current population extent and trajectory · Additional species-specific ecological and conservation sources
Process and seasonal context
- Seasonal timing
- Not yet assessed
- Seasonal description
- Night-blooming Jasmine (Cestrum nocturnum) is an introduced tree treated as naturalized on Kauaʻi by Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist and the 2026 Smithsonian checklist. Current extent is unassessed. A wet-tropical shrub or small tree native from Mexico to Venezuela, occurring across several forest types and secondary vegetation at lower elevations in its native range. It is widely cultivated for night-fragrant flowers and has naturalized beyond that range. Naturalized on Kauaʻi in the Bishop Museum 2025 checklist (Status=nat; K=K), with Smithsonian 2026 Kauaʻi corroboration; public occurrence is island-level only. This evidence does not quantify current abundance or ecological effects.
Sources and further reading
- https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:316386-2
- https://www.worldfloraonline.org/taxon/wfo-0001020728
- https://naturalhistory2.si.edu/botany/hawaiianflora/speciesdescr.cfm?genus=Cestrum&species=nocturnum
- https://www.plantsofhawaii.org/search/Cestrum%20nocturnum
- https://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/publications/pdf/tr75.pdf
- https://editedimages.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/Imadaetal.2025Hawaiianvascularplants.xlsx
- https://doi.org/10.5479/si.32124043