Tas. 7806. 
SYRINGA  oprata. 
Native of North China. 
Nat. Ord. OLeacem.—Tribe Syrince®. 
Genus Syrinea, Linn.; (Benth. & Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. ii. p. 675.) 
Syrinea (Eusyringa) oblata; frutex fere glaberrimus, 8-10-pedalis, foliis sub- 
hysteranthiis 2-33 poll. latis subcoriaceis rhombeo-ovatis orbicularibusve 
acrtis v. subcuspidatis basi rotundatis v. late cordatis supra lete viridibus 
marginibus spe roseo tinctis subtus pallidioribus demum rufescentibus, 
petiolo 3-1 poll. longo, thyrso breviter pedunculato globoso v. oblongo 
dense-multifloro, ramis ramulis calycibusque puberulis, floribus breviter 
pedicellatis pallide lilacinis, calyce 7 poll. longo ad medium inequaliter 
4-fido, lobis ovatis v. ovato-lanceolatis acutis, corolla tubo } poll. longo 
nndo v. subglanduloso, limbi 3 poll. lati lobis orbiculatis v. late ellipticis 
planis v. subconcavis. 
S. oblata, Lindl. in Gard. Chron. 1859, p. 868. Fortune, Le. 1860, p. 170. 
Naud. in Fl. des Serres, vol. xiii. (1858, in 1860 public.) p. 126 (sub Asculo 
indica) Dippel, Handb. Laubholz. vol. i. p. 113. Sargent, Gard. & For. 
vol. i. (1888) p. 221, fig. 39. Decne in Nouv. Arch. Mus. Paris. Sér. U1. 
vol. ii. p. 40. Hemsl. in Journ. Linn. Soc. Bot. vol. xxvi. (1889) p. 83. 
Franch. Pl. David, p, 205. 
8. ay Bunge in Mém. Sav. Etr. Pétersh. vol. ii. (1835) p. 116 (non 
illd.). 
Syringa oblata is so closely allied to S. vulgaris, t. 183, 
that Prof. Sargent (Gard. & Forest, l.c.) who has given a 
good vesumé of the characters of the Chinese species of 
the genus, says that it is, perhaps, a geographical variety 
of that plant. He points out as differences, its thicker 
leaves, its flowering twelve days later, and the leaves 
turning a dark russet-red in autumn. Before, however, 
accepting this view, it is necessary to compare the fruits 
and seeds of the two plants, of which those of S. oblata 
are as yet unknown to me. 
Fortune was the introducer of S. oblata into Kurope. 
He found it in a garden at Shanghai. Some years later 
the Abbé David procured specimens from a garden in 
Peking; and more recently it has been collected in a wild 
state in Western Kansu by Potanin, and at Moukden, in 
Shingking, by the Rev. J. Webster. A plant of it was 
obtained by the Royal Gardens, Kew, in 1899, from Mr, 
Lemoine’s Nurseries of Nancy. It flowered in the 
Temperate House in April of this year. 3 
Novemser Ist, 1901. 
