← The ApothecaryGelsemiaceaeroot and rhizomeFact-checked 24 October 2026

Toxic — not for home useThe plant contains highly toxic indole alkaloids that have caused human injury and death. Poisoning typically involves breathing difficulty, convulsions, asphyxia and respiratory arrest, from blockade of the inhibitory glycine and GABA-A receptors (the same mechanism as strychnine and picrotoxin). Heating the plant material, as in teas or cooking, was strongly linked to severe poisoning.In an emergency, call your local emergency number or poison centre.

Yellow jessamine

Gelsemium sempervirens

Also calledCarolina jessamine · Evening trumpetflower

In older monographsGelsemium sempervirens (L.) J.St.-Hil., Gelsemium sempervirens (L.) Ait. f.

An evergreen vine of the southeastern United States and Central America, grown as an ornamental. Its root was used in traditional medicine for neuralgia and fever. All three Gelsemium species are highly toxic: the plant contains more than 120 alkaloids, including gelsemine and koumine, which block the inhibitory receptors of the brain and spinal cord much as strychnine does. It is not a plant for home use.

What it is used for

Anxiety and nervous tension
Limited
Gelsemium sempervirens extract and its alkaloids (gelsemine, koumine, gelsevirine) reduced anxiety-like behaviour in mice. There are no clinical trials of the plant, and the same alkaloids are what make it poisonous.^1,2
Nerve pain and neuralgia
Traditional
Traditionally used for neuralgia. Gelsemine and koumine relieve pain in animal models, acting on spinal glycine receptors, but the same receptors underlie the plant's toxicity. No safe human dose is established.^1,2
Fever
Traditional
Traditionally used for fever, despite its toxicity.¹
Back pain
Traditional
Recorded for spinal inflammation and back pain and as an antispasmodic.²

Safety

Pregnancy: Avoid
Breastfeeding: Avoid
Children: Of 283 ingestions reported to two US poison centres (2000–2022), most were in young children and were generally mild with raw plant material; severe outcomes were far more likely when the plant had been heated or cooked (27% vs 0.4%).

Do not use if

Any home or internal use

Dangerous lookalikes

The vine resembles honeysuckle, and foraging mistakes are common.

In the healing traditions

Indigenous North American
Evening trumpetflower (Delaware)
The Delaware, including the Oklahoma Delaware, used the root as a blood purifier and in a compound salve for the skin.
Gladys Tantaquidgeon, A Study of Delaware Indian Medicine Practice and Folk Beliefs (1942); Folk Medicine of the Delaware and Related Algonkian Indians (1972)
Western herbalism
Gelsemium root
Used in traditional medicine for neuralgia and fever, and also recorded for cancer, spinal inflammation, back pain and as an antispasmodic.
Modern pharmacology
Gelsemium alkaloids
Gelsemine, koumine and gelsevirine are competitive antagonists of glycine and GABA-A receptors in cell studies, which explains both their pain-relieving and anxiety-reducing effects in animals and the convulsions and respiratory arrest they cause in poisoning.

Active compounds

gelsemine: indole alkaloid; blocks spinal glycine receptors (IC50 about 42 µM) and, more weakly, GABA-A receptors
koumine, gelsevirine: indole alkaloids; inhibit glycine receptors (IC50 about 31 and 41 µM); analgesic and anxiolytic in animals, toxic in overdose
phenolic depsides, glycerides and nor-ursane triterpenoids: non-alkaloid constituents of root and rhizome; antioxidant in the lab

History

Yellow jessamine belongs to the small genus Gelsemium, three species in all, with G. elegans in China and Southeast Asia and G. sempervirens and G. rankinii in North and Central America. All are highly toxic, yet they have long been used in folk medicine for pain. The Delaware recorded its root as a blood medicine and salve.

Sources

Reference, not prescription. Nothing here is medical advice. Herbs can interact with medicines and be dangerous in pregnancy; tell your doctor or pharmacist about anything you take.