MELATI GAMBIR - PART 1

Jasmine...
I'm sure everyone have known about this popular flower.
With so many different names, also so many varieties.
White petal and beautiful scent... so interesting.
This flower is often used to represent purity or sincerity.

In Indonesia Jasmine is called Melati.
There are so many varieties that grown here.
From so many varieties that I have ever known, I'm really interested to Melati Gambir (Jasminum officinales).
Yes... we are turning on the time to the past.
On 2007, me and my friends did a little observation about this flower.
Such an amateur observer, I think....
We did observation to several plants, especially endemic plants.
So, this week I will re-explore this plant as a monthly series.

Here, there are two varieties of jasmine that grown commercially for it flowers, they are Melati menur (Jasminum sambac) and Melati Gambir.
Melati gambir is usually cultivated on smallholder farms. 
The Province of Central Java is the center of Melati Gambir production.
There are some locations as centers of cultivation, they are Purbalingga Regency as the biggest producer, Batang, Tegal and Banjarnegara 
On these area, the plant is grown as second commodity after food crops.
This flower is mainly used as tea fragrance on jasmine tea.
The specific purpose and specific market makes this plant is rarely cultivated on large scale.

Next we will talk about the cultivation of this jasmine.
Please enjoy this series...
Have a beautiful week with my jasmine!