Syringa, or Mock Orange 



owing its advent here to Professor Sargent about 1883, 

 and is specially interesting because, crossed with the 

 Common Syringa (P. coronarius), it has given rise to 

 a delightful hybrid that appears to have all the virtues 

 and none of the vices of other species. This desirable 

 individual P. Lemoinei so named because it was the 

 well-known French botanist, M. Lemoine, of Nancy, 

 who called it into existence, is slender, with a free 

 supple branching, that carries a great profusion of 

 smallish white flowers and pointed leaves. Its frag- 

 rance is very sweet, but without any of the heaviness 

 and " molestation of the head " that Gerard found so 

 trying. In fact " it represents/' as Mr. Bean says, " one 

 of the greatest successes ever achieved by the hybridiser's 

 art, being the forerunner in gardens of a new and distinct 

 type of Philadelphus, and the first of a most beautiful race 

 of summer flowering shrubs." In August, when the 

 flowering season is over, the flowering shoots should 

 be cut right back ; this keeps the shrub round-topped 

 and dwarf, and the new spring shoots of the current 

 year will furnish the flowers for the next season. 



P. Lemoinei is now found in many varieties, with 

 both single and double flowers, and has thus furnished 

 a new set of charming shrubs to make the garden still 

 gayer in midsummer. 



The Syringas belong to the family Saxifragacece, 

 and are closely allied to the Deutzias. When their 



