The jasmine plant is a creeper, with white or yellow flowers. it is cultivated in Algeria, Morocco, France, China and Egypt, the French oil is the most expensive. Great expense goes into producing pure jasmine oil. The pinwheel-shaped, dainty, white flowers grow in clusters on the woody stalks of the shrub, and yield a surprisingly dark, viscous oil. For each ounce of oil to be extracted, forty pounds of flowers must be picked -- before dawn, when jasmine is at its aromatic peak. The flowers are too delicate to be put through the distillation process used for most essential oil extractions. Instead, special methods are used to obtain the absolute -- which is more concentrated than essential oils.

True Jasmine, Jasminum officinale, has oval, shiny leaves and tubular, waxy-white flowers. Do not confuse with False Jasmine or yellow jasmine, Gelsemium sempervirens, which has a similar fragrance, but contains toxic alkaloids that are extremly poisonous, and can cause death. Jasmines grow well in moist, well drained,soil and prefer full sun to partial shade and a warm site.