<liketuimages>
<center>
![cl6w4sj7k006k14nsf2jp31lo_298964950_10159792724797850_5405345747819604947_n.webp](https://cdn.liketu.com/media/leeart/images/cl6w4sj7k006k14nsf2jp31lo_298964950_10159792724797850_5405345747819604947_n/cl6w4sj7k006k14nsf2jp31lo_298964950_10159792724797850_5405345747819604947_n.webp)
![cl6w4spb8006g0wnsf9a08ypx_299172290_10159792728087850_3993231391385282147_n.webp](https://cdn.liketu.com/media/leeart/images/cl6w4spb8006g0wnsf9a08ypx_299172290_10159792728087850_3993231391385282147_n/cl6w4spb8006g0wnsf9a08ypx_299172290_10159792728087850_3993231391385282147_n.webp)
![cl6w4ssxq005w2kns92614vha_299463371_10159792724497850_1104724688171755951_n.webp](https://cdn.liketu.com/media/leeart/images/cl6w4ssxq005w2kns92614vha_299463371_10159792724497850_1104724688171755951_n/cl6w4ssxq005w2kns92614vha_299463371_10159792724497850_1104724688171755951_n.webp)
![cl6w4t0vr006k1sns5y73hqtq_299468659_10159792728567850_5663495974496305627_n.webp](https://cdn.liketu.com/media/leeart/images/cl6w4t0vr006k1sns5y73hqtq_299468659_10159792728567850_5663495974496305627_n/cl6w4t0vr006k1sns5y73hqtq_299468659_10159792728567850_5663495974496305627_n.webp)
![cl6w4t6c000621kns5ckkbega_298976765_10159792728522850_4847428526967930065_n.webp](https://cdn.liketu.com/media/leeart/images/cl6w4t6c000621kns5ckkbega_298976765_10159792728522850_4847428526967930065_n/cl6w4t6c000621kns5ckkbega_298976765_10159792728522850_4847428526967930065_n.webp)
![cl6w4tcdr006i0wns8a75b0wr_298972886_10159792728487850_2141088963410462201_n.webp](https://cdn.liketu.com/media/leeart/images/cl6w4tcdr006i0wns8a75b0wr_298972886_10159792728487850_2141088963410462201_n/cl6w4tcdr006i0wns8a75b0wr_298972886_10159792728487850_2141088963410462201_n.webp)
![cl6w4tjys006m1sns0wnignne_298985185_10159792728207850_8084089728312232143_n.webp](https://cdn.liketu.com/media/leeart/images/cl6w4tjys006m1sns0wnignne_298985185_10159792728207850_8084089728312232143_n/cl6w4tjys006m1sns0wnignne_298985185_10159792728207850_8084089728312232143_n.webp)
![cl6w4to9t006h0ons7roi4ghm_299733302_10159792724452850_6809734634002314215_n.webp](https://cdn.liketu.com/media/leeart/images/cl6w4to9t006h0ons7roi4ghm_299733302_10159792724452850_6809734634002314215_n/cl6w4to9t006h0ons7roi4ghm_299733302_10159792724452850_6809734634002314215_n.webp)
![cl6w4tt8g006o1sns4m0zbgtv_299661503_10159792724637850_6348597426906098088_n.webp](https://cdn.liketu.com/media/leeart/images/cl6w4tt8g006o1sns4m0zbgtv_299661503_10159792724637850_6348597426906098088_n/cl6w4tt8g006o1sns4m0zbgtv_299661503_10159792724637850_6348597426906098088_n.webp)
![cl6w4ty8g005s0hns9pq6em65_299306595_10159792725147850_3340398048372536910_n.webp](https://cdn.liketu.com/media/leeart/images/cl6w4ty8g005s0hns9pq6em65_299306595_10159792725147850_3340398048372536910_n/cl6w4ty8g005s0hns9pq6em65_299306595_10159792725147850_3340398048372536910_n.webp)
</center>
</liketuimages>

This shrub is also called lady of the night or nigh-scented jasmine or night-flowering jasmine but I have known this all my life as dama de noche (Cestrum nocturnum).  This native of the Central Americas has that sweet smelling scent most prominent at night.  Thus, the name referring to the night.  It has white flowers that can fill up an entire branch.  It can grow as high as 13 feet.

The photos I took were from the past months when it was dama de noche season.  When it is their season, they adorn the roadsides or sidewalks or yards that grow them.  It would then carpet the ground where they grow once the flowers fall.  I like how the tip of the flowers resembles a star.  Their silhouettes are like fallen stars frozen in time.

These are additional information according to Wikipedia:
Scientific name: Cestrum nocturnum
Family: Solanaceae
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Solanales

I didn't know it belong to the potato family Solanaceae.

Despite the jasmine name given to this shrub, it does not belong to jasmine family.

According to [Scary Stories](https://www.facebook.com/scarystorieshere/photos/philippine-urban-legenddama-de-nochethe-dama-de-noche-says-that-there-was-upon-a/770386123021069/), there are two Philippine Legends about dama de noche:


>Dama and the nobleman get married and live happy... At first. Dama used to cook and clean for him, but this was not enough for the nobleman anymore. One night the nobleman told Dama she was not good enough for him and went back to his old life. Dama was devastated, crying, went back to the bedroom, and looking to the sky through the window, asked the spirits for help so she won't lose her husband.

>Later that night the nobleman came back to his house calling Dama to fix his nightclothes, but she was nowhere to be found. After looking for all over the mansion, he came back to the bedroom, when a sweet smell coming from the window grabbed his attention, he walked to check the window and saw a bush growing in the window, with lots of small white flowers spreading that sweet smell, capturing the nobleman with it.

>Dama never came back and the nobleman waited for her return in that window, with only the smell of the flower as company.

>Another version of the legend of Dama de Noche says that a beautiful princess used to live a long time ago. Since she was a baby, she could connect with people's emotions. If someone was happy in the house, she would laugh, if there was a sad person, then she would cry.

>This beautiful baby was named Dama (in the dialect, mean "Feel", making reference to her gift of feels other people's feelings).

>Also, Dama loved perfumes, when she was a teenager, she would play with different flowers to create various perfumes, and the legend says that Dama even had her own fresh smell, specially at night, which made her have lots of suitors.

>One day, Dama got really sick, as days went by, her health was deteriorating, not even the best medics of the Barangay could do something, finally dying. Her funeral was full of garlands of flowers, and her body bathed in perfume, being buried on her vast garden.

>The legend says that one night a unique flower started to grow from Dama's grave that had a really sweet fragrance at night. People started to say that the flower was Dama's paying a visit to them, as time went by, the flower was know as Dama De Noche (Dama of the Night). 

I like the second story better because it is more implied that the heroine became the flower in the end.  It is vague as to what happened to the lady in the first story.

According to [Health Benefits](https://www.healthbenefitstimes.com/night-blooming-jasmine/), dama de noche has antiviral, antibacterial and even antiseizure properties.  It's interesting that in that page it can treat headaches but at the same time causes it.  Also, although the scent is pleasant it can irritate the respiratory system if you are exposed to it too much.

Dama de noche is home to me.  We have this in our yard for as long as I can remember.  We haven't let it grow to its full height thought because its foliage is robust and it has lots of branches that if left alone it can cover a whole lot of space and that's not okay.  It would block the sun and would kill other plants beside it that's why we have to keep trimming it every now and then.

Whenever I am away from home and I smell the scent of the flowers of this shrub, it takes me back home.  The familiar scent would automatically transport me mentally back home.

---

For the best experience view this post on [Liketu](https://liketu.com/@leeart/dama-de-noche-cestrum-nocturnum)