Do you know Night-blooming Jasmine chooses to unfold its beautifully designed petals and fragrant smell only in the darkness, and that behavior has significant meaning?
As the pollinators of Jasmine are moths that remain active during the night, the blooming and intense fragrance may be the biological rhythms to pollinate the flower.
So, go through this complete article to know the reasons and actual meaning behind the intense Jasmine smell at night with their significance.
Table of Contents Show
5 Reasons Why Do Jasmine Smells At Night [Meaning]
Not all Jasmine blooms and produce fragrance at night. There are some day-blooming Jasmine that exhibit the smell during daytime.
The intense fragrance at night is comparatively excessive and beneficial in some night-blooming species like Jasmine sambac, an Arabian Jasmine.
1. Pollinator Attraction
Pollination of Jasmine usually occurs by Moths as the flower structure of night-blooming Jasmine exactly fits with moths.
Moreover, most moths are more active during the night. The strong fragrance of Jasmine at night is to attract pollinators that remain energetic during the night.
Those nocturnal pollinators feed on the nectar of the Jasmine after they get attracted to the sweet smell and hence pollinate the flowers successfully.
Furthermore, Jasmine flower blooms, particularly at night, making those pollinators easy to get the nectar.
Thus, the strong smell is an invitation to the night-flying pollinators to pollinate the flower.
2. Energy Preservation
The Jasmine plant bears flowers with very delicate petals. The volatile essential oil in the fragile petals produces the fragrance.
Those petals are very sensitive to sunlight, and direct sunlight can damage the petals and make them injured.
After the petals injury, the volatile essential oil escapes from the flower, and hence the flower becomes unable to attract any pollinators.
So, to be able to bloom perfectly and perform successful pollination, the Jasmine plant needs to avoid direct sunlight.
Thus, Jasmine usually blooms and smells at night to avoid direct sunlight and to preserve the petal’s energy.
3. Escape Predators
Many insects and pests feed on delicate petals and damage them. As Jasmine bears delicate petals, they are more likely to be victim of those insects and pests.
Many herbivores and insects are active during the daytime that only feed on the flowers without pollinating them.
If Jasmine smells in the daytime, the fragrance may attract those herbivores to the flower for feeding.
So, it may be the master plan of the Jasmine flower to spread the fragrant smell only at night to attract their pollinators and avoid the predators that destroy them.
4. Chemical Reactions
As said earlier, the intense smell of the Jasmine flower is due to the volatile compounds that are aromatic chemicals.
Jasmine flowers produce those chemicals effectively during the cooler nighttime temperature.
Moreover, Jasmine flowers are also sensitive to temperature, and the high day temperature can damage the petals.
Furthermore, the fragrance evaporates quickly at high temperatures and cannot spread effectively.
On the other hand, the smell at cooler temperatures during the night gets spread slowly on the air making the atmosphere fragrant.
5. Human Perceptions
Human perceptions of smell can be hindered by the mix of every little thing in the daytime.
Comparatively, all human activities are very low at night, and the environment becomes calm and uninfluenced.
Moreover, the sense of smell becomes more active during the nighttime compared to the smelling sense during the day.
Thus, the high sensitivity of smell makes the smell of Jasmine flowers more noticeable at night than during the daytime.
From Editorial Team
Significance of Smell of Jasmine
The smell of Jasmine bears various cultural, emotional, and symbolic significance like romance, love, mystery, happiness, healing, hope, and many more.
Moreover, the smell also holds cultural significance. It is said that a person with positive energy can smell the fragrance at night with comfort.
