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Species of flowering plant

Cestrum nocturnum, the lady of the night, night blooming jasmine, night blooming jessamine, night scented jessamine, night scented cestrum or poisonberry, is a species of plant in the potato family Solanaceae. It is native to the West Indies, but naturalized in South Asia. Despite its common name, the species is not a "true jasmine" and not of the genus Jasminum.

Cestrum nocturnum is an evergreen woody shrub with slender branches growing to tall. The plant is multi branched and heavily foliated. The leaves are simple, narrow lanceolate, long and broad, smooth and glossy, with an entire margin. Towards the front they are pointed or tapered, the base is rounded or blunt. The leaf stalks are 0.8 to 2 cm long.

The flowers are greenish white, with a slender tubular corolla long with five acute lobes, diameter when open at night, and are produced in cymose inflorescences. A powerful, sweet perfume is released at night. The mostly multi flowered, drooping inflorescences are terminal or axillary. They are clustered, sparsely branched panicles, on the inflorescence axes of which there are herbaceous bracts. The five sepals are fused to form a bell shaped, approximately 2 mm long calyx and have five pointed tips, which are slightly enlarged, ribbed and acutely pointed on the fruit. The inside and outside of the calyx are finely haired. The fruit is a white berry long by diameter. There is also a variety with yellowish flowers. There are mixed reports regarding the toxicity of foliage and fruit.

Cestrum nocturnum is grown in subtropical regions as an ornamental plant for its flowers that are heavily perfumed at night. It grows best in average to moist soil that is light and sandy, with a neutral pH of 6.6 to 7.5, and is hardy to hardiness zone 8. C. nocturnum can be fertilized biweekly with a weak dilution of seaweed and fish emulsion fertilizer.

Flowers distilled oil contains phenylethyl alcohol (27%), benzyl alcohol (12%), eicosane (5.6%), eugenol (5.6%), n tetracosane (4.4%), caryophyllene oxide (3.1%), 1 hexadecanol (2.7%), methoxyeugenol (2.45%), benzaldehyde (2.32%). Flowers alcohol extract contains cytotoxic steroids.

The mechanisms of the plant's putative psychoactive effects are currently unknown, and anecdotal data are extremely limited and include an aphrodisiac power. In a rare discussion of traditional entheogenic use of the plant, Müller Ebeling, Rätsch, and Shahi describe shamanic use of C. nocturnum in Nepal. They describe experiencing "trippy" effects without mentioning unpleasant physical side effects. Rätsch's Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants also describes a handful of reports of ingestion of the plant without mentioning serious adverse side effects.

Cestrum nocturnum has become widely naturalized in tropical and subtropical regions throughout the world, including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, southern China and the southernmost United States, and is difficult to eradicate. It is classed as a weed in some countries. In Auckland, New Zealand, it has been reported as a seriously invasive weed to the Auckland Regional Council and is under investigation. NS Forest and Bird is compiling an inventory of wild cestrum sites in order to place the plant on the banned list. The inventory can be viewed via Google Maps. Some nurseries still sell it without warning customers of the dangers to native bush reserves.