What poisonous vine, South Carolina's state flower, is Gelsemium sempervirens?
Answer
yellow jessamine
Answer
yellow jessamine
What poisonous vine and South Carolina state flower is Gelsemium sempervirens? Yellow jessamine.
Gelsemium sempervirens is a twining perennial vine native to the southeastern and south-central United States, extending from Texas to Virginia, as well as parts of Mexico and Central America. Its bright yellow, trumpet-shaped flowers are strongly scented and commonly appear on trellises, arbors, and woodland edges.
The plant has several other names, including Carolina jessamine, Carolina jasmine, evening trumpetflower, and confederate jessamine. Despite the jasmine-like names, it is not a true jasmine: true jasmines belong to the genus Jasminum, while yellow jessamine belongs to the family Gelsemiaceae.
Its beauty explains its horticultural popularity, but every part is toxic. The vine contains the strychnine-related alkaloids gelsemine and gelseminine. Nectar can poison livestock and has caused children to become ill after mistaking the flowers for honeysuckle. Yellow jessamine became South Carolina's official state flower in 1924.
Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Sept. 2026