ITEACEAE 89 



PHILADELPHUS Linnaeus 

 Mock Oranges Syringas 



The mock oranges are branching shrubs with toothed or en- 

 tire, opposite leaves and perfect flowers borne singly or in cymes 

 at the end of short, leafy branches. There are 4 or, rarely, 5 

 sepals in the flowers, which are persistent, and 4 or, rarely, 5 

 white or yellowish-white petals. The stamens are usually nu- 

 merous, that is, from 25 to 60, and the 4-celled ovaries are about 

 two-thirds inferior. The mature fruit is a capsule which is 

 more or less woody, and contains numerous seeds, the coats of 

 which are netted. 



PHILADELPHUS CORONARIUS Linnaeus 



Syringa Mock Orange 



The Syringa, fig. 18, is a 6- to 12-foot shrub characterized 

 by brown, glabrous bark, which exfoliates in flakes during the 

 second season. The apparently 3-nerved leaf blades are ovate 

 or oval, denticulate along the margins, glabrous, or pubescent 

 beneath, and 2 to 4 inches long. They are acute or acuminate 

 at the tip and rounded or narrowed at the base, and the teeth 

 on the margins are rather distantly spaced. The creamy white, 

 very fragrant flowers are arranged in racemes at the end of the 

 branches, and are about 1 to Ij/^ inches broad. There are 5 to 

 9 flowers in each raceme. 



Distribution. — The Syringa is an introduced shrub that has 

 escaped somewhat sparingly from cultivation in Illinois. The 

 appearance of the flowers, which bloom in May and June, gives 

 rise to the occasionally used name Orange Flower Tree. 



A single native species, P. verrucosus Schrader, has been 

 reported in literature as being found on rocky talus below high 

 blufi's on the Ohio River near Golconda in Pope County. This, 

 the only record of its occurrence in Illinois or elsewhere, needs 

 substantiating. 



ITEACEAE 



The Virginia Willow Family 



The Virginia w^illow family is a small family of shrubs and 

 small trees with simple, alternate leaves without stipules and 



