CHAP. LXXV. OLEA CER. SYRI'/NGA. 1211 
ment to whom it was named by Baron Jacquin. It is an upright shrub, with 
spreading branches, and purple twigs. Its leaves are elliptic-lanceolate, 3 in. 
long, and 11 in. broad, shining and lucid green above, and white beneath, in 
the manner of those of the balsam peplar; but of a deep dark green, some- 
thing like that of the leaves of Chionanthus. It was found growing in shady 
places, near water, along with Fagus sylvatica, Cérylus Avellana, Fraxinus, 
Spire‘a, Rosa, Ribes, and Atragene, and rising from the height of 12 ft. to 
that of 18 ft. (See Aligem. Gartenzeit., vol. i. p. 5.) This sort has certainly 
avery different appearance from the common lilac; but it may, after all, 
be only a variety of it. It was first sent to Britain by Messrs. Booth 
of the Floetbeck Nurseries; and there are now plants in the Garden 
of the Horticultural Society, in the Edinburgh Botanic Garden, and in 
some other collections; so that there can be no doubt but that, by grafting 
and budding, it will soon be as easily to be procured in the British nur- 
series as the common lilac. The price of plants, in the Fulham Nursery, 
is 7s. 6d. each. 
% 3. 8S. pe’rsicaA L. The Persian Lilac. 
Identification. Lin. Sp.,11.; Don’s Mill., 4. p. 51.; Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836. 
Synonymes. Lilac minor Moench 3 Lilac pérsica Lam. ; Lilas de Perse, Fr. 
Engravings. Curt. Bot. Mag., t. 486.; Mill Fig., 164. f.1.; Mant., t. 57.; Pluk. Phyt., 297. £.8.; 
and our jig. 1039. 
Spec. Char., §c. Leaves small, lanceolate, entire. 
Flowers purple. (Don’s Mill., iv. p. 51.) A shrub, 
from 4 ft. to 6ft. high; a native of Persia. In- 
troduced in 1640, and flowering in May and June. 
It is one of the most common, and, at the same 
time, one of the most ornamental, of our low 
deciduous shrubs. It is frequently planted in pots, 
and forced so as to come into flower at Christmas, 
for the purpose of ornamenting rooms; and it is 
remarkable, that, though the flowers are very fra- 
grant when they expand naturally in the open air, 
yet in the hot-house they are quite scentless; 
doubtless from the want of sufficient light to 
elaborate the volatile oil, which is the cause of | 
the odour. In Paris, it is said, they retard the 
Persian lilacs, by placing them in an icehouse in , 
December, and keeping them there till the Sep- (f 
tember or October following, when they will come 
into bloom without the aid of artificial heat about 
Christmas, so as to be ready for the bouquets given as presents on New 
Year’s Day. (See Gard. Mag., vii. p. 247.) The species is generally 
propagated by cuttings, and the varieties by layers. 

Varieties. 
2 S. p. 2 alba Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836. The white Persian Lilac. — Leaves 
lanceolate, entire. Flowers white. 
% S. p. 3 laciniata Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836, 
Mill. Dict., No. 3., Icon., t. 164. 
f. 2., and our fig. 1040., Lin. Hort. 
Cliff. 6., Lodd. Bot. Cab., 1107., 
Munting, t. 56., Tourn. Inst., 602. ; 
S. capitata Gmel. Itin., iii. p. 304. 
t. 32. f. 1., Schmidt Baum., ii. p. 79. ; 
Lilas 4 Feuilles de Persil, Fr. The 
cut-leaved Persian Lilac.—This va- 
riety has some of its leaves pin- 
natifidly cut, and nearly all of them 
cut in seme manner. 

