Parijat Parijatak Harshringar Plant

 Parijat flower, also spelled “Paarijat” and “Paarijaata” is of a beautiful and mysterious plant whose flowers fall on the ground after blooming.  The flowers bloom at night and drop down from the branches at the first rays of light, leaving us wanting for more. Read more to learn about this.

Parijat flower is known as Night-flowering Jasmine and Coral Jasmine worldwide.

According to folklore, a princess “Parijataka”, who was in love with the Sun tried to win the heart of the Sun. When he rejected her, she committed suicide and a tree sprung from her ashes. Unable to stand the sight of her lover, the tree flowers only at night and sheds them like tear drops before the sun rises.

Parijat flowers have four to eight petals arranged above a vibrant orange tube in a pinwheel pattern. These highly fragrant flowers open at night spreading their fragrance in the surrounding area with an intensely sweet floral aroma. These flowers blossom between August to December. Parijat grows in the outer Himalayas, and are found in tracts of Jammu & Kashmir, Nepal to East of Assam, Bengal, Tripura extended through the Central region up to Godavari in the South. Besides India, they are found in Thailand, Indonesia, Nepal and Pakistan.

The tree is sometimes called the “tree of sorrow”, because the flowers lose their brightness during daytime; the scientific name arbor-tristis also means “sad tree”. The flowers can be used as a source of yellow dye for clothing. The flower is the official flower of the state of West Bengal, India, and for Kanchanaburi Province, Thailand.