SYKINGA VULGARIS-LILAC. 



CLASS, DIANDRIA ; ORDER, MONOGYNIA. 

 NATURAL ORDER, OLEACE^E. 



GEN. CHAR. Corol, hypo-crateriform. Capsule two celled 

 SPEC. CHAR. Leaves, ovate, cordate. Branches stiff, white 

 colored. 



This is a beautiful ornamental shrub, rising from six to eight 

 feet in height, deciduous in its habits, and bearing in April and 

 May large clusters of fragrant flowers. It is much cultivated in 

 the United States, and there is perhaps no flower of spring whose 

 coming is welcomed as much as this. Of this species there are 

 ten well known varieties. The White and Purple will both graft 

 readily, or inoculate into each other, and we may thus have a 

 shrub one side of which produces purple, and the other side white 

 flowers ; these colors may be judiciously varied, so as to present 

 an exceedingly elegant, and withal delicate effect, which sight alone 

 will enable any one to appreciate. It spreads itself rather too 

 rapidly by means of suckers, and from these as much as possible 

 it should be kept clear, if we wish to cultivate it in perfection. 

 Tyas remarks, that the Lilac is consecrated to the FIRST EMOTION 

 OF LOVE, because nothing is more delightful than the sensation it 

 produces on the return of spring. The freshness of its verdure, 

 the pliancy of its tender branches, the abundance of its flowers 

 their beauty, though brief and transient, their delicate and varied 

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