SYR 



S Y R 



mon sort. It is a native of Germany, Sec, and 

 flowers from Maj to Ouobcr. 



'lie third lias a perennial root : tlie stalks 

 two feet high : the leaves rounder, and armed 

 with rough priekiv hairs : the flowers in hunches 

 like the first fort, but blue : they appear in 

 March, but seldom produce seeds in this climate, 

 round near Constantinople. 



Culture. — These plants mav be increased 

 by seeds or parting the roots, but the latter is 

 more practised. The seeds should be sown in 

 the spring, in a border of common earth; in 

 the autumn the plants will be proper to set out 

 where they are to remain, or to remove into 

 other pots. The roots should be parted in the 

 autumn, and planted out either in beds about a 

 toot from plant to plant, or where they are to 

 remain; almost evervpart will grow, and the 

 plants are hardy, and succeed in any soil or situ- 

 ation : they only require to be kept clean after- 

 wards. They produce variety in mixture in the 

 borders. 



SYKIXGA, a genus containing plants of the 

 deciduous flowering shrubby kind. 



It belongs to the class and order Diandria 

 Monogyeia, and ranks in the natural order of 

 Sepiarice. 



The characters arc : that the calyx is a one- 

 leafed perianth, tubular, small : mouth four- 

 toothed, erect, permanent : the corolla one- 

 petalled, funnel-form : tube cvlindric, very 

 long: border four-parted, spreading and rolled 

 back: segments linear, obtuse: the stamina 

 have two 61aments, very short: anthers small, 

 within the tube of the corolla : the pistillum is 

 an oblong germ: stvle filiform, length of the 

 stamens : stigma bifid, thiekish : the pericar- 

 pium is an oblons capsule, compressed, acumi- 

 nate, two-celled, two-valved : valves contral- 

 to the partition : the seeds solitary, oblong, com- 

 pressed, acuminate at both end.--, with a mem- 

 branaceous edge. 



The species cultivated are: 1. S. vulgaris, 

 Common Lilac : 2.S. Persica, Persian Lilac. 



The first is a shrub, w hich 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 vet more 

 diffused. The branches of the White are covered 

 with a smooth bark of a gray colour; in the 

 other two it is darker; the leaves of the White 

 are of a brighter green : they are heart-shaped 

 in all, almost five inches long, and three inches 

 and a half broad near the base, placed opposite, 

 on foot-stalks an inch and half in length. The 

 buds of the future shoots, which are verv turgid 

 before the leaves fall, are of a very bright green 



in the White sort, but those of the other two are 

 dark green. The fl e always prod ; 



at the ends of the shoots of the former year j and 

 below the flowers other shoots come out to suc- 

 ceed them; as that part upon which the flowers 

 stand decays down to the shoots below every 

 winter. There are generally two bunches or 

 panicles of flowers joined at the end of each 

 shoot; those of the Blue are the smallest, the 

 flowers also arc smaller, and placed thinner than 

 either of the others ; the bunches on the \\ bite 

 are larger, hut those of the Scotch are larger 

 still, and tlu (lowers fairer; it of course m 

 the best appearance : the panicles of flowers 

 growerect, and, being intermixed with, the bright 

 green leaves, have a line effect, which with The 

 tragrancy of the flowers, renders it one of the 

 most beautiful shrubs of the garden : the flow ers 

 appear early in May, or towards the end of 

 April, and when the season is cool continue 

 three weeks; but in hot seasons soon fade. It 

 is supposed a native of Persia. 



There are several varieties : as with white 

 flowers, with blue flowers, with purple flowers, 

 or Scotch Lilac. 



The second species is a shrub of much lower 

 growth than the common sort, seldom rising 

 more than five or six feet high : the stems are 

 covered w ith a smooth brown bark : the branches 

 are slender, pliable, extend wide on every side, 

 and frequently bend down where they are not 

 supported : the leaves two inches and a half 

 long, and three fourths of an inch broad, of a 

 deep green colour : the flowers in large panicles 

 at the end of the former year's shoots, as in the 

 former ; of a pale blue colour, and having a 

 very agreeable odour. They appear at the end 

 of May, soon after those of the common sort, 

 and continue longer in beauty, but do not per- 

 fect their steds in this climate. 



There are several varieties : as the common 

 purple-flowered, white-flowered, blue-flowered, 

 and the laeiniated or cut-lea', d. 



Culture. — These plants are mostly raised by 

 suckers or layers, and sometimes b The 



suckers should he taken off in the autumn or 

 spring, with root-fibres to them, and he planted 

 out either in nursery-rows, tq,remain a year or 

 two, or where they are to remain. Tthc layers 

 may be made from the voting pliant shoots, and 

 be laid down in the autumn, in the usual way, 

 when in the autumn following they may he 

 taken off and planted out, as in the suckers. The 

 fi rs t sort may likewisi 



in a bed of common earth, in the autumn or 

 . keeping the plants clean when they 

 come up. They afford variety in the large bor- 

 ders and other parts of shrubberies. 

 J.M 3 



