March, 1916. 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



61 



The Development and Propagation of the Lilac' 



^^%roa 



HE lilac, Syringa vulgaris, is the 

 queen of hardy garden shrubs. 

 No other garden shrub ap- 

 roaches it in popularity. The showy, 

 prominent, fragrant flower clusters 

 which are siiways borne abundantly, its 



The Ulan Dr. Masters. ^Ir. Dunbar i.-^ -sliown. 



adaptability to diverse soils provided 

 they are well drained, and its absolute 

 hardihood, combine to make it a favor- 

 ite. It appears to flower more abun- 

 dantly in the gardens and parks of the 

 north and north-eastern United States 

 and Canada than it does in Europe. 

 The result of this is seen in the remark- 

 able popularity the lilac has attained, 

 judging by the multitudes of people 

 that go to. see different public collec- 

 tions of lilacs in flower. 



The home of the common lilac is 

 supposed to be on the mountains of 

 south-east Europe and along the rocky 

 banks of the Danube. About ten years 

 since it was found growing on the 

 higher mountains of Bulgaria. It had 

 the appearance there of being in native 

 conditions. Seedlings raised from seed 

 collected from these plants on the Bul- 

 garian mountains show primitive con- 

 ditions in flower. That is in the small 

 individual flowers, and small clusters, 

 there are all the appearances of a wild 

 type. 



It is said to have been introduced 

 into the gardens of Great Britain about 

 1597. Loudon is his Arboretum et 



John Dunbar, Rochester, N.Y. 



Fruticetum Brittannicum, published in 

 1842, gives descriptions of seven vari- 

 eties, and states, "A number of plants 

 have been raised from seed by Mr. Wil- 

 liams, of Pitmaston, of which there are 

 six sorts tolerably distinct in the Horti- 

 cultural Society's garden. The French 

 nurserymen are also in possession of 

 new seedlings, but none of them that 

 we have seen are so well deserving of 

 culture as the common blue, violet, red, 

 and the white. ' ' This, then, was about 

 the status of the lilac in Europe about 

 seventy years since. During the pre- 

 \ious nearly two hundred and fifty 

 years of ics cultivation in British gar- 

 dens, nothing particularly noticeable 

 in the improvement of the lilac, at least 

 so far as f,ny records show, seems to 

 have been accomplished. 



Different Species. 



There are about twenty-five species 

 of lilacs known to science. A number 

 of new species were discovered during 

 the past fourteen years in western 

 China by the Chinese botanist and ex- 

 plorer, E. II. Wilson. The range of all 

 of the species of the genus is from 

 south and south-eastern Europe 

 through central Asia and the Hima- 

 layas to Mongolia, northern and west- 

 ern China, and Japan. It may appear 

 remarkable that no species of lilac has 

 ever been found native on this conti- 

 nent. 



Some of the species are remarkably 

 handsome garden plants, and all of 

 them are worthy of cultivation. 

 Syringa Amurensis, from Manchuria, 



has large -white fragrant loose clusters 

 of showy flowers about the middle of 

 June. It has very slender branches, 

 and grows eight to ten feet high. 

 Syringa chinensis was supposed at one 

 time to be a species, but it is now 

 known to be a hybrid between the com- 

 mon and Persian lilacs, and originated 

 at Rouen, I'rance, many years since, 

 and is sometimes known as the Rouen 

 Lilac. It has large, lax, flower clusters, 

 and varies from deep lilac, reddish 

 lilac to white. Syringa Giraldi comes 

 from northern China, and has pale 

 lavender flowers in long clusters, at the 

 en4,of April, and the first of May. It 

 grows six 10 eight feet tall. 



Syringa Persia, Persian Lilac, comes 

 from Persia and Afghanistan, and is a 

 most dainty, beautiful shrub, with flow- 

 ers lilac and white. Syringa pubescens 

 comes from northern China, and has 

 loose clusters of pale rose-colored, fra- 

 grant flowers, at the end of May. This 

 is a most beautiful shrub, and grows 

 six to eight feet high. Syringa reflexa 

 is one of the new lilacs from western 

 China, and flowered with us last spring 

 for the first time. It has curving pani- 

 cles of rosy red flowers, and is most 

 distinct and pretty. Syringa Swegin- 

 zowii is a new lilac from some part of 

 eastern Asia, with dainty clusters of 

 white flowers shading to pink, and flow- 

 ered with us for the flrst time last 

 spring. 



Syringa villosa is a lilac from north- 

 ern China, and grows wild in the neigh- 

 borhood of Pekin. It is one of the 



•Extract from a paper read at the last an- 

 nual convention of the Ontario HortlouUural 

 Aasoc>at)»n. 



A close view of the lilacs Leon Gambetta and the Doctor Masters. 



