222 ARISTOCRATS OF THE GARDEN 



the base and thus hang somewhat like the inflores- 

 cence of the Wistaria. The expanding flower-buds 

 are bright red and the open flowers are pale rose color. 

 It will thus be seen that this is a plant of singular 

 and most distinctive beauty and in the hands of the 

 hybridist may be the forerunner of a race totally 

 different in aspect when in flower from present-day 

 Lilacs. A strong-growing shrub from eight to twelve 

 feet high, with erect stems and oblong lance-shaped 

 leaves, its season of flowering is mid- June. It is na- 

 tive of the margins of woods and thickets on the 

 mountains of western Hupeh, in central China, where 

 I had the good fortune to discover it in 1901, and of 

 introducing it, together with another new species 

 (S. Julianae), in 1902. The latter is a broad shrub 

 scarcely exceeding five feet in height but is twice that 

 much in diameter, and has thin and twiggy branches 

 and small, softly hairy leaves. Its rather small clus- 

 ters are very freely produced and the flowers are small 

 and fragrant and have violet-colored anthers. It 

 differs from all other Lilacs in having the stalks of 

 the inflorescence and of the individual flowers and 

 also the outer surface of the corolla-tube a deep 

 purple color. The inner surface of the corolla is 

 white so that as the flowers open the inflorescence 

 is purple and white and the contrast is most pleasing 



