PLATE ]-. 



1. SYRINGA VULGARIS. 



LILAC. 



This oenus contains plants of the deciduous riowcring- shruhhv 



kind. 



It belongs to the class and order Diandiia Mofiogi/n/a, and ranks n\ 



the natural order of Scpiai-i.r. 



The characters are: that the calyx is a •)ne-leafed perianth, tubu- 

 lar, small: mouth four-toothed, erect, permanent: the corolla one- 

 petallcd, funnel-form : tid^e cylindric, very long: border four-parled, 

 spreading ami rolled back: segments linear, obtuse: the stamina 

 have two filaments, very short: anthers small, within the tube of the 

 corolla: the i)is(illum is an oblong germ: style filiform, length of the 

 stamens: stigma bifid, thickish: the pericarpium is an oblong cap- 

 sule, compressed, acuminate, two-celled, two-valved : valves con- 

 trarv to the partition: the seeds solitary, oblong, compressed, acu- 

 minate at both ends, with a membranaceous edge. 



The species cultivated are: 1. S. vii/garis, Common Lilac: 1*. S. 

 Persica, Persian Lilac. 



The first is a shrub, which grows to the height of eighteen or 

 twenty feet in good ground, and divides into many branches; those 

 of the White sort grow more erect than the Blue; and the Purple or 

 Scotch Lilac has its branches yet more diftused. The branches of 

 the AVhite are covered with a smooth bark of a gray colour ; in the 

 other two it is darker; the leaves of the ^\'hite are of a brighter 

 creen; they are heart-shaped in all, almost five inches long, and three 

 inches and a hall broad near the l)ase, placed opposite, on foot- 



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