566 SYRINGA 



besides some species newly introduced, S. Emodi, Josikaea, and villosa 

 (Bretschneideri). The remainder, of which vulgaris is the type, flower 

 on naked or leafless panicles, often in terminal pairs. 



The cultivation of the common lilac is dealt with under the heading 

 of S. vulgaris, and the soil and general treatment are the same for the 

 rest of the genus. All of them can be propagated by layers, most of them 

 by cuttings. Cuttings should be made of mature shoots in August, and 

 placed in a sheltered position under handlights. Softer cuttings taken 

 earlier will often take root in gentle heat. 



S. AMURENSIS, Ruprecht. 



(Ligustrina amurensis, Regel.) % 



Of the three species now in cultivation which represent the section 

 Ligustrina (or privet-like lilacs), this is the least satisfactory in my experience. 

 It was discovered in Manchuria by Radde, a Russian botanist, in 1857, and 

 like many other shrubs from the same region, its flower-buds are easily 

 excited into premature growth by warm January and February days, and 

 are almost invariably cut off by late frosts. I have never seen a perfect 

 panicle at Kew, although the flowers "set" freely enough. The 

 species is a sturdy bushy shrub, 6 to 8 ft. (perhaps more) high. Leaves 



2 to 4 ins. long, i to 2 ins. wide, ovate or oval, usually with a drawn-out 

 apex, the base more or less tapered; stalk about -| in. long. Flowers dull 

 white, not very pleasantly scented, produced during June in panicles which, 

 when perfectly developed, are 4 to 6 ins. long, 3 to 4 ins. wide; tube of corolla 

 very short. 



S. CHINENSIS, Willdenow. ROUEN LlLAC. 

 (S. dubia, Persoon ; S. rothomagensis, Richard.") 



A deciduous bush of dense rounded habit, 10 to. 15 ft. high. Leaves 

 ovate, i^ to T.\ ins. long, f to i ins. wide; rounded or broadly wedge-shaped 

 at the base, taper-pointed, smooth; stalk \ to \ in. long. Flowers of the 

 common lilac shade, intermediate in size between those of the common and 

 Persian lilacs, somewhat loose; corolla tube \ in. long, lobes J in. long. 



A hybrid between the Persian and common lilacs, said to have been 

 raised in the Botanic Garden of Rouen by Mr Varin in the last quarter of 

 the eighteenth century; introduced to Britain in 1795. There is nothing 

 improbable in this story, but the plant has been known in China for more 

 than one hundred years, and is still common in cultivation about Pekin. 

 It is quite possible the plant had two separate origins. It is a bush of 

 great beauty when in flower, the growths made during the summer producing 

 the following May a pair of flower-trusses 3 to 6 ins. long at each joint 

 towards the end, so that the whole makes a heavy, arching, compound 

 panicle. It sometimes produces fertile seed. 



Several forms of the Rouen lilac are in cultivation : alba, flowers pale 

 pink; duplex and La Lorraine, double; metensis, rosy lilac; rubra (Saugeana\ 

 lilac-red. 



S. EMODI, Wallich. HIMALAYAN LILAC. 



A large robust shrub, 10 to 15 ft. high, the branchlets dark olive green or 

 brownish, but freely spotted with long, narrow, pale excrescences. Leaves 



3 to 8 ins. long, and about half as wide; oval or sometimes ovate or obovate, 



