CHAP. LXXV. OLEA^CE^.. SVRl'XGA. 1209 



Derivation. From sirinx, the native name in Barbary. The tubes of tlie finest Turkish pipes are 

 inainitactured from the wood of tliis shrub ; ami also from that of the Philad^lphus coronarius, 

 to which the name was originally given (see p. P51.). Hence the old English name of Pipe Tree, 

 which was applied both to tlie Philadelphus and the Syringa. Lilac is from lilac, or litag, the 

 Persian word for a flower. 



Gen. Char., Sfc. Calyx small, 4-toothed. Corolla funnel-shaped, with a 4- 

 parted limb. Stamens 2, enclosed. Stigma trifid. Capsule ovate, com- 

 pressed, 2-celled, 2-valved, 2-seeded ; valves navicular, with a narrow dis- 

 sepiment in the middle. (Don's Mi//., iv. p. 51.) — Deciduous shrubs, with 

 simple leaves and thyrsoid terminal panicles of flowers, which are oppo- 

 sitely branched. Flowers purple or white. Natives of Europe and the 

 colder parts of Asia; highly valued in the gardens of temperate climates 

 for the beauty and fragrance of their flowers, and the profusion in which 

 these are produced in the spring of the year. The natural mode of pro- 

 pagating is by suckers, which all the species produce in abundance ; and 

 they will all grow in any common soil. The price of plants, in the London 

 nurseries, is from 6d. to \s. Qd. each; at Boll wy Her, from 30 cents to 2 

 francs ; and rt New York, where all the sorts are quite hardy, from 25 

 cents to 50 cents. 



iS I. S. vuLGA^Ris L. The common Lilac. 



Jdentification. Lin. Sp.. 11. ; Don's Mill., 4. p. 51. ; Lodd. Cat, ed. 1836. 



Synonymes. Lilac vulgaris Gcertn. ; Pipe Privet, or Pipe Tree ; Lilas comraun, Fr. ; gemeiner 



Flieder, Ger. 

 Engravings. Lam. 111., t. 7. ; Schmidt Baum., t. 77. ; N. Du. Ham., t. 61. ; Schkuhr Handb., 1. 1. 2. ; 



and our^^. 1036. 



Spec. Char., Sfc. Leaves ovate-cordate, acuminated. The common blue lilac, 

 now so plentiful in every plantation, was a great rarity in the year 1597. 

 (Don's Mill., iv. p. 51.) A shrub, from 8 ft. to 10 ft. high, a native of Persia, 

 and of Hungary, of chalky precipices in the Cverna valley, and Mount Do- 

 moglet, as well as of the whole group of rocks along the Danube. In 

 cultivation in Britain in 1597, and flowering in May. 



Varieties. 

 s S. r. 1 ccBrulea Clus. Hist., i. p. 56., Ger. Emac, 1399. f. 2., Besl. Eyst., 

 t. 1. f. 2., Park. Par., 407. t. 409. f. 4., Theatr., 1467. f. 1. The 

 common blue Lilac. — There is a subvariety, with the leaves imper- 

 fectly variegated, 

 a S. V. 2 \ioldcea Curt. Bot. Mag., t. 183,, Mill. Ic, t. 163. The common 

 purple Lilac, also called the Scotch Lilac, because it was first 

 recorded in Sutherland's Catalogue of the Edinburgh Botaiiic Garden. 

 ® S. r. 3 alba. The common tvhite Lilac. — This variety flowers earliest, 

 as S. r. 4 alba major Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836, has larger flowers than the 



previous variety. 

 * S. V. 5 alba plena, S. plena Lodd. Cat., is said to have the flowers double ; 

 but the plant bearing this name in the Horticultural Society's Gar- 

 den has single flowers, 

 a S. u. 6 rubra Lodd. Cat. has red flowers. 



a S. V. 7 rubra major Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836 ; the Lilas de Marly of the 

 French gardeners ; has flowers larger than the parent variety. 

 Other Varieties. A number of plants have been raised from seed by 

 Mr. Williams of Pitmaston, of which there are six sorts, tolerably distinct, 

 in the Horticultural Society's Garden. The French nurserymen are also 

 in possession of some new seedlings ; but none of all that we have ob- 

 served are so well deserving of culture as the common blue, violet, red, and 

 white. In the arboretum of Messrs, Loddiges there is a plant marked 

 S. chinensis, which appears to be -S", vulgaris alba ; and another, received 

 from Soulange-Bodin, marked Charles X. {S. v. Caroli Lodd. Cat., ed. 

 1836), which appears to be a variety of 5, v, purpurea. Another, marked 

 S. sibirica, appears to be S. v, purpurea; but, these plants, except the first, 

 being quite young, we have only seen them in leaf. 

 Description, S^c. The common lilac grows to the height of 20 ft, and 



