It's 'Grand Duke of Tuscany' and one of the most intensly fragrant ones (not very difficult to find in nurseries, I even bought a couple at Target). Ugly plant, huh? :) It must be at least a decade old or maybe older as those canes are pretty thick.

I have personally notice two types of flower. Whether one is a sport of the other, I'm not sure. Some plants display flowers just like that where there is usually one, sometimes two or three on each end, occasionally they crest like a cauliflower head. The other type display flowers where there one big central flower surrounded by little tiny flowers coming out from sepal area. The ones I have from Target never displays flowers like the latter I mentioned.

Thanks for the info. A friend of my mother gave it to her, so I don't know how old it is.

Dear Newgen,
Yes, I agree that what your mom has is 'Grand Duke of Tuscany', and I must say that it is the most floriferous specimine I have ever seen! It really does have more flowers than leaves. This is remarkable to me because, here in New Jersey at least, 'Grand Duke of Tuscany' usually produces one blossom at a time, and is painstakingly slow to produce another. For me it blooms only in the late Spring.

"Grand Duke of Tuscany" is a variety of Jasmine Sambac, (Jasminium Sambac), called Arabian Jasmine, it is the very scent of India. You can tell all Sambac by their characteristic of turning from white to that particular streaked purple that you have photographed so well.
Some varieties are of Sambac are bush-vining, most are bushy, and a few are upright, the way "Grand Duke of Tuscany" is. There are a number of named varieties offered, manly differing in the amount of doubling in the flowers. "Grand Duke of Tuscany" and "Grand Duke Supreme" with elongated petals are almost cabbage-rose-like, although any side buds they produce turn out to be semi double. These are not large flowers, but many times the size of the singles. "Belle of India" with its star-like petals and "Arabian Nights", like a white camelia are double, while 'Maid of Orleans' is single. One variety is covet is 'Mali Chat' with its unique pagado doubling.
All share the same intoxicating jasmine fragrance which characterize the Sambacs.

I prefer the singles because they flower for me all summer long, and our never out of place with their neat green looks. And of course they are just as fragrant Among these singles, and among even those doubles sold as named varieties you may find great variation. The prized Sambac which currently sits on my porch rail to be smelled whenever I pass has an unusual habit of dropping its flowers as soon as the open, long before they turn purple. I love it all the same, for fallen from the plant, the flowers stay fresh and emit their fragrance out of water set around the house, (or worn in a tropical maiden's hair) for 30 or 40 hours, before becoming scentless and purple streaked, then finally drying mauve on the third day. The first plants of Sambac Jasmine I grew many years ago never did this. Knowing though that Pikake, as they are there called, are lei flowers supreme in the Hawaian islands, this droppping habit may be a very desirable characteristic selected out in certain varieties.

I must disagree with the criticism your Mom's plant has recieved though. I love it! I wish I had such a specimen.
While it may need a few branches clipped, Jasmines are not plants to look at, but to smell and revel in.

Best wishes, and thank-you for sharing your photos!
Sincerely,
Matt Di Clemente

Matt,
I am saying that this cultivar is generally very ugly in appearance. And I mean it affectionally, as it isn't just this particular one that can look so 'ghoulish' (in my opinion). Grand Duke of Tuscany is among my top favorite jasmine for it's rose-like flowers and fragrance regardless what I said. This example that Newgen has kindly shared with is indeed a wonderfully old specimen with many gorgeous flowers. But looking like it belongs in a haunted house or in a Tim Burton movie is the nature of this cultivar...it's not really something that can be helped. I find it a wonder how it can even still be related to the other J. sambac cultivars where the branching and overall structure isn't not as ghoulish. With that said, consider the irony, this plant could be worth a lot as a specimen if I saw it at a nursery.

Wowwwww...what an unusual specimen, I'd sure love to get one of these !!!! My Target does not have a gardening department, my other available stores are..OSH and Home Depot. Where can I find one like YOU have, Matt? Would you, please,
kindly let me know?
Thank you in advance,
Annamaria Vecchio

P.S. By the way, do you speak Italian? I DO!!

That is one beautiful plant!@!!!!!!!!!!

I can smell it from here. Great work!

Mike

Annamaria, you can get a vigorous, very fragrant specimen of several different jasmine sambacs, including the Grand Duke pictured here at Almost Eden. You can get a 4" or a 1 gallon size, depending on what you want to invest.

Wow that is a beautiful flower. I hope my Grand duke will have different color flowers too. Mine are young and grown to 2 feet tall. They have white flowers but it did not open yet. Hopefully I get some pink flowers too. I also have rose Jasmin where the flower is red on the base and white on the top and smell like heaven. My woman is a flower nut I am making a collection for her. I love the smell too.