Lonicera japonica, a neglected plant in Persian botanical literature with a review on “Yass” and “Yassaman” in Iran

Lonicera japonica is generally known as “Yass” or “Gole Yass” among Iranians, however, this vernacular name is not widely known in Persian botanical textbooks or encyclopedia. Moreover, specialists in plant science and horticulture recognize this plant as “Pich-e Aminoddoleh”, which has been already dedicated to another species, Lonicera caprifolium While the terms “Yassaman” and “Yassamin” were such widely used in the classical Persian literature that many scholars believe that the genus Jasminum hasits name derived from the Persian ‘Yassaman’, the word “Yass”, their shortened form, was not frequently used in the classical Persian literature and medicinal texts. Here, we reviewed ancient and new related pieces of literature and matched the correct terms of “Yass” and “Yassaman” with the correct scientific names on the basis of historical data and morphological characters, as well as the available identification keys.  In this paper, Chrysojasminum is also added as a new genus for the flora of Iran.