jor December, 1'I20 



399 



Lilacs (Syringas) 



ARBORUM AMATOR 



THE shrubs which are commonly called Lilacs really 

 belong to the genus Syringa and those which are gen- 

 erally called Syringas belong to the genus Philadcl- 

 fhns. However, the name Lilac is deeply intrenched and 

 nearly everyone except the botanists calls a Syringa a 

 Lilac, and probably always will, but in this article we will 

 •call them by their correct botanical name, Syringa, though 

 in our headline we are using the popular name. Lilacs. 



The Syringa belongs to the botanical order, Olcacac, 

 of which the olive that bears the olive fruit of commerce 

 is a member. There are about a dozen species of Syrin- 

 gas and several varieties of each species. Some bear 

 single and others double flowers. Alany have a pleasant 

 odor, but some are scentless, characteristics which we 

 should note when making a selection for planting. The 

 flowers have a large range of colors, from pure white to 

 dark red. The species are natives chiefly of Northern 

 China, JNLinchuria, Afghanistan and the Caucasus. 



SPECIES AND VARIETIES 



Syringa vulgaris is the common Syringa, as its name 

 vulgaris signifies. If we are looking for really old-fash- 

 ioned shrubs, this is surely one. Indigenous from South- 

 eastern Europe to Caucasus and Afghanistan, it was 

 brought into England in 1579 and later it came into the 

 Colonial gardens in America, being one of the earliest 

 shrubs planted in these. Not long after it was intro- 

 duced into the towns and countryside and became a farm- 

 house dooryard shrub, and later still escaped to the road- 

 sides. May we say right here that even in these present 

 days for the countryside Syringa vulgaris is a desirable 

 shrub. It has an upright growth, bright green foliage, 

 and attains a height of 15 to 20 feet, sometimes, when 

 grown in tree form. In !May it produces large panicles of 

 lilac-colored flowers. Some of the original forms of 

 vulgaris are alba, with white, purpurea with purplish- 

 red, carulca with l)lue. and violacca with violet-lilac flow- 

 ers, and, perhaps, Marleyensis, and Charles X. 



Syringa z'illosa reaches a hei,ght of about 7 feet ; it 

 has a bushy form, and strong, upright, round, warty 

 branches. It produces in Alay whitish or pinkish lilac 

 flowers which are nearly odorless. Its several varieties 

 are aurca, whose foliage has a yellow variation, emodi. 

 which is too tender for the North, and rosea, with pink 

 flowers. 



On the bank of a Transylvania river there was discov- 

 ered by the Baroness Josika a Syringa which was in her 

 honor named losik^ea. The violet-colored flowers of this 

 species also are almost without odor, but this species is 

 valuable because it blooms late, its flowers appearing in 

 June. It has an upriglit habit of growth, reaching a 

 height of about 10 feet, and dark green foliage. There 

 are two varieties of Josikea, pallida, with pale violet, and 

 rubra with reddish violet flowers. 



Among the more graceful species is Syringa pubeseens. 

 reaching a height of only about 6 feet, and clothed with 

 dark green handsome foliage. This native of Northern 

 China produces in May on slender quadrangular branches 

 not large, but c|uite numerous panicles of fragrant pale 

 lilac flowers. 



Syringa oblata forms either a small tree or a shrub of 

 about 12 feet in height. Its foliage is dark green, but in- 

 stead of dropping in early Autumn, as that of nearly all 

 Syringas. it remains on the branches till November, and 

 assumes a vinous-red color. It is, like most Syringas, a 

 May bluomer, and in that month produces loose pyramidal 



racemes of very fragrant purple-violet flowers. This 

 species also comes from Northern China. 



Still another native of Northern China is the very 

 distinct species of large growth, Syringa Pckuicnsis. 

 Ihis grows about 15 feet high and has slender reddish 

 branches, upon which are borne in pairs in June yellow- 

 ish-white flowers in large panicles. This species comes 

 into bloom rather late, but has the valuable habit of re- 

 taining its foliage till late in the Autumn. ^. Pendula, a 

 van'ety of this, has slender drooping branches, 



Syringa Chinensis is believed by some to be a native 

 species from China, but by others to be a hybrid of 

 Syringa vulgaris and Pcrsica, originating in 1777 in 

 Rouen, France. It has a bush form, is about 12 feet 

 high and on its slender arching branches appear in May 

 nuiperous flowers of purplish-lilac color in large panicles, 

 which have too pronounced a fragrance to suit some. 

 There are several varieties of this, duplex with double 

 purplish-lilac, alba with white, Mertensis with pale pur- 

 plish, and Sougeana with purplish-red flowers. Chinen- 

 sis, like Pckinensis, does not come into flowering young. 



There is one Syringa which has a distinctive tree form. 

 This is Syringa Japonica. It has a pyramidal shape and 

 grows as high as 30 feet. This is a free and a late 

 bloomer, producing in June and July, yellowish-white 

 flowers in panicles a foot long. The foliage of its variety, 

 argentea, has a silvery white variegation, 



THE HYBRIDS 



Syringa Jiyacinthiflora plena is a double form, a hybrid 

 of oblata and vulgaris. This is one of the older hybrids, 

 but from this and the varieties of vulgaris many of the 

 new double-flowered varieties came. The purplish hue 

 which hyaciiithiflora plena as-,iimes in Autumn enhances 

 its value as a shrub. 



The botanists and horticulturists, chief among these M. 

 Lemoine, of Nancy, France, have carefully studied the 

 species and varieties and by crossing and recrossing these 

 have produced a new race, so to speak, of both double and 

 single flowered Syringas of great beauty. We will men- 

 tion briefly a few of these single-flowered Hybrids : 

 Syringa rubra insignis, rosy purple; Ludung Spaeth, 

 purplish red ; Charles X, dark lilac-red ; Philemon, dark 

 purple ; Aline Moequeris, dark red : gigantca, bluish-red ; 

 Doetor Lindley, pinkish lilac ; Geant des Bataillcs, bluish 

 lilac: Sibiriea. purjilish lilac: Gloire des Moulins, pale 

 ]jink : Lovaniana, li.ght pink; Frau Bertha Dainmann, and 

 Marie Legraye, white. 



IXJUBLE FLOWERED HVIiRIDS 



President Carnot, lavender flowers with white centers; 

 La Tour d'Auvergne, violet purple; Comte Horace de 

 Choisetd, a magnificent lilac purple variety^ Doven Kete- 

 leer, lilac blue; Condorcet, blue; Belle de Nancy, pink 

 with white center : Charles Joly, one of the darkest of the 

 purplish-red varieties : Leon Simon, considered one of the 

 best, pinkish, changing to bluish lilac; Lemoinei, lilac 

 pink : Jean Bart, pinkish violet ; Lamarck, loose panicles 

 of large violet flowers ; Michel Buchner, very large and 

 very double pale lilac flowers ; Virginite, white and pink ; 

 Madame Cassimir Perier. large white flowers borne in 

 graceful panicles '.Marie Lemoine, large white flowers in 

 dense panicles: Madame Abel Chatenay and Obclisque, 

 white. These lists arc far from exhaustive, but embrace 

 some of the best hybrids. 



Double-flowered Syringas are usually of dwarfer 

 {Continued on pasf 401) 



