The Carolina Jessamine, the South Carolina state flower, grows across the entire state and parts of the Southeast. Selected in 1924, the Carolina or yellow jessamine, is a staple of South Carolina foliage and traditional medicine.
The plant thrives in South Carolina heat due to its need for full to partial sun exposure, and preference towards well drained and rich soils. In addition to its beauty, some Native American tribes, like the Algonquian tribe, used the flowers to make tinctures for malaria and other fever-based illnesses. The flower can also be weaponized in numerous ways. The entire plant is poisonous; thus, the flower can be steeped into tea that can cause immediate paralysis or death. The flower often blooms in February and is a symbol of the upcoming spring season.
Members of the South Carolina Legislature also believed it “suggests the pureness of gold.”
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