O is for Osmanthus

This is perhaps the last bloom of the season in Shanghai. Around October , and last year as late as November- when we had a warm spell of a couple of days,  just as the days and nights start to cool a little, the city has pockets of sweet smelling flowers.  The bushes have evergreen shiny leaves, and really don't look very spectacular. Their scent however, makes up for the lackluster greenery.  They are also part of the tea culture here; some of the green teas are infused with the scent of the flower, much like is done with jasmine. Osmanthus absolute (alcohol extract of the flower) is very expensive (~U.S. $4000.00 per kilogram) and accordingly is used in only the most expensive perfumes and flavors.

Here is a little more technical information about the plant: Osmanthus is a genus of about 30 species of flowering plants in the family Oleaceae, mostly native to warm temperate Asia (from the Caucasus east to Japan) with one species (O. americanus) in North America (southeastern United States, Texas to Virginia). They range in size from shrubs to small trees, 2-12 m tall. The leaves are opposite, evergreen, and simple, with an entire, serrated or coarsely toothed margin. The flowers are produced in spring, summer or autumn, each flower being about 1 cm long, white, with a four-lobed tubular-based corolla ('petals'). The flowers grow in small panicles, and in several species have a strong fragrance. The fruit is a small (10-15 mm), hard-skinned dark blue to purple drupe containing a single seed.