66 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 345 



species may be had in varieties having white, rosy-lilac, or lilac-red flowers by 

 securing varieties alba, metensis, or saugeana. 



X SYRINGA HENRYI, "LUTECE" HENRY LlLAC 



This hybrid Lilac makes a full, bushy plant resembling S. villosa in habit, 

 aspect, and practice of flowering after S. vulgaris; but differing by having a 

 larger, looser panicle of violet-purple flowers free of any disagreeable scent. 



Syrihga japonica JAPANESE Tree LlLAC 



Though capable of developing into a thirty-foot tree, this species is often 

 seen in cultivation as a ten- or twelve-foot, heavy-wooded shrub. Its creamy- 

 white flowers borne in loose, foot-long panicles give off on the night air of mid- 

 June a scent so heavy that most writers have classed it as unpleasant. Here is 

 a plant which can live happily in dry situations after it has once become 

 established. 



SYRINGA PERSICA PERSIAN LlLAC 



A commonly planted, thin-wooded, small-leaved, small-flowered, graceful 

 shrub reaching a maximum height of some six feet and bearing its pale-lilac, 

 fragrant flowers in broad panicles about the middle of May. Valued as a 

 complete plant and not because of quality of its individual flower trusses. A 

 white-flowered variety is available. 



Syringa pubescens Hairy LlLAC 



A medium-sized Lilac with a claim to garden value because of the intense 

 fragrance of its profuse, pale-lilac flowers. 



SYRINGA REFLEXA Nodding Lilac 



Growing to a height of some twelve feet, this rather broad, stout-branched 

 species of somewhat stratified aspect is distinct in that it carries its non- 

 fragrant flowers — carmine in bud and pink when open — in long, hanging 

 panicles at the end of May or early in June. Here is a shrub for use in groups 

 or in edges of the woodland. 



SYRINGA VULGARIS Common Lilac 



This plant and its white variety (var. alba) typify the word "Lilac" in the 

 popular mind. Though, by careful handling, both forms can be made to flower 

 quite decently, the inrush of some three hundred garden varieties has relegated 

 them to use as hedging material or as tall ground cover for large, well-drained 

 areas. Usually when so placed the plants vegetate freely and produce but few 

 small flowers. 



The very number of hybrid Lilacs and their lack of distinctive characteristics 

 make the result of any attempt at evaluation a highly personalized matter. Per- 

 haps, as it has been said, the best ten are the ten one likes best. In short, selec- 

 tion of Lilac varieties is a matter for personal taste. Thus, the following list of 

 worth-while varieties is offered with no sense of finality but rather as a group of 

 examples of the several expressions of the common Lilac. "CAVOUR", 

 slate-blue, single flowers; "CHARLES THE TENTH", single, reddish- 

 purple; "CONGO", single, dark crimson; "EDOUARD andre", double, pink 

 flowers, open panicle, low-growing plant; "JAN VAN TOL", single, pure 

 white, for forcing; "LUCIE BALTET", single, delicate pink, not free 

 flowering; "LUDWIG SPAETH", single, dark red-purple; "MME. CASI- 

 MER PERRIER", single, white, late, free flowering; "MME. LEMOINE", 

 clear white, "hose-in-hose" flowers; "PRESIDENT FALLIERES", double, 

 pale lavender; "PRESIDENT LINCOLN", single, early, bluest of all. 



