Himalayan jasmine

References to jasmine appear in Sanskrit Ayurvedic texts dating to around 300 BCE, with manuscripts from the Himalayan region describing jasmine oil as a sacred substance used in spiritual ceremonies. Buddhist monks carried jasmine cuttings along the ancient Silk Road routes that passed through Himalayan valleys, introducing the flower to Tibet, China, and Southeast Asia. By the Mughal period in the 16th century, jasmine had become a fixture in the perfumed gardens of Kashmiri and Punjabi courts, where it was woven into garlands and infused into attars. The British colonial era saw systematic cultivation expand in the Himalayan foothills, with Indian jasmine entering European trade networks for the first time. Grasse perfumers, already masters of tropical jasmine, prized the Himalayan variety for its distinctive green edge, recognising it as a separate olfactory material rather than a regional variant of the same scent. Today, jasmine harvested in the hills above Dehradun and in the Kullu district remains one of the most sought-after but least widely distributed ingredients in fine perfumery, produced in quantities too small for mass-market fragrance but essential to the craft of luxury fragrance houses.