An example of common
name confusion is jasmine and jessamine where the former also refers to several
species in other genera. In this case
Carolina jessamine, Gelsemium
sempervirens, and swamp jasmine, G.
rankinii, are in the same genus.
These may even be mixed up in the nursery trade and are used interchangeably. The only differences I’m aware of are the
later having a facultative wetland indicator status, a more southerly range where restricted to the coastal plain, less fragrant blossoms both fall and
spring, and persistent acuminate sepals rather than obtuse deciduous sepals, thus I may have gotten the later mislabeled as the former. The range difference may also explain the questionable cold hardiness of some plants (like mine) from nurseries that are actually the later because the former ranges
further north including northeast Alabama, only has flowers in the spring, and is the state flower of