192 



1576, p. 126-7) identified Belon's "queue de Regnard" as the lilac. 

 Some eleven years prior to Clusius, Mattiolus, in his Commentarii 

 (5th Ed., 1565) illustrated a plan! which he called "lilac," but this 

 illustration would appear to be based in part, as noted by Mrs. 

 McKelvey, upon imagination, for it figures flowers (like the lilac) 

 and fruits on the same inflorescence at the same time. In his 1598 

 edition (]). 854) Mattiolus gives a more accurate picture of the 

 lilac as we know it. 



Linnaeus, in 1753, included two species in his "Species Plan- 

 larum" : Syringa vulgaris and .V. persica. In 1792 the Chinese spe- 

 cies, Syringa villosa, was described; in 1830 the Hungarian lilac, 

 .V. Josikaea; in 1857. S. amurensis and A", pekinensis. Render, in 

 his '•.Manual" 1940 edition, includes twenty-three species. Fig- 

 ures 1 and 4 illustrate lilac species. 



The hybrid between S. vulgaris and S. persica (S. chinensis or 

 Rouen Lilac) was known before 1800. S. Henryi (S. villosa X 

 Josikaea), usually called .V. Josikaea var. Lutece, is illustrated in 

 fig. 4. The Giraldii hybrids, or Early Tall Hybrids, illustrated in 

 hg. 5, are of more rapid growth than the .V. vulgaris varieties. 

 Some of the species-hybrids and their varieties are among the most 

 ornamental of lilacs. 



Varieties of the common lilac, resulting from artificial hybridiza- 

 tion, are in general more showy than the species. Macrostachva 

 was introduced as early as 1844. Most of the varieties have been 

 produced by the famous French horticulturists, Victor Lemoine 

 and his son Emile, beginning with the variety Jacques Callot, in 

 1876. The history of the varieties has recently been sketched by 

 John C. Wister. (Nat. Hort. Mag. 20: No. 1. 1041.) 



Some clusters are very large, such as Reaumur, Mine V. Morel, 

 and President Poincare; small clusters characterize Virginite, 

 Arthur Win. Paul. Lmil Liebig, and others. In some varieties, 

 such as VValdeck- Rousseau, the individual dowers are well sepa- 

 rated; in others, such as Charles Sargent, they grow closely to- 

 gether. Hut in most varieties the inflorescence is. to some extent, 

 separated into sub-clusters. 



Flower forms of varieties are shown in fig. 2, as follows: Vesuve, 

 cucullate or hooded petals. Catinat, petals narrower, bending back- 

 ward. Virginite, narrow petals in center. Unite, petals narrow, 



