The specific name fragrans is a borrowing from the Latin meaning “odorous, fragrant” referring to the intense fragrance of its flowers.

The fruit is a purple-black drupe 10–15 mm (0.39–0.59 in) long containing a single hard-shelled seed; it is mature in the spring about six months after flowering.

[8] A number of cultivars have been selected for garden use, with varying flower colors, such as Osmanthus fragrans 'Yanhua' with its variegated foliage and orange blooms.

Osmanthus jam is used as an ingredient in a type of gruel called chátāng, which is made from sorghum or millet flour and sugar mixed with boiling water.

[9] In some regions of northern India, especially in the state of Uttarakhand, the flowers of sweet osmanthus are used to protect clothes from insects.

[11] The extract of dried flowers showed neuroprotective, free-radical scavenging, antioxidative effects in in vitro assays.