0567 



MOCK ORANGE 



Family: MYRTACEAE.[7Va/?.v/a/or's note: now in family Saxifragaceae] 

 Reproductive system: ICOSANDRY, MONOGYNY. 



The sweet mock orange, Philadelphus coronarius, LINN., originally from southern 

 France, now has spread over almost all of Europe. Its stem, brown or reddish in color, 

 rises four, five, and ten feet high. It bears a large number of slightly crooked branches. 

 The leaves are opposite, oval-lanceolate, with lightly dentate margins; they have a soft 

 consistency and are strongly marked with veins. The white flowers are arranged in small 

 bunches of five or six at the ends of the branches. The calyx is top-shaped and has four or 

 five sections. The corolla is made up of four or five petals. The stamens, numbering about 

 twenty, are inserted into the calyx. The ovary is adherent and is crowned by a stigma 

 that's split into four sections. The fruit is a capsule with four compartments that contain 

 many seeds. 



FLOWERS: in June and July. 



RANGE: France and southern Europe. It's been observed in Piedmont by Allioni 

 and in Dauphine by Villars [Translator's note: Carlo Allioni, 1728-1804, was a 

 physician, botanist, and taxonomist in Turin; Dominic Villars, 1745-1814, a French 

 botanist and taxonomist.] 



NOMENCLATURE. The genus name Philadelphus, or brotherly love in Greek, was 

 the name of one of the Ptolemies, a king of Egypt, to whom the genus was dedicated 

 [Translator's note: it was named for Ptolemy II, Ptolemy Philadelphus, ca. 308-246 

 B.C.E., probably by Athenaeus, an Egyptian-born Greek writer and botanist]. German, 

 der pfeifenstrauch, wilder jasmin. Dutch, wife syring. English, mock-orange, the pipe- 

 tree. Spanish, geringuilla. Russian, tschubuschnik, pustoryl. 



USES. This shrub has been able to contribute to the decoration of groves and 

 gardens for a long time. The aroma of its flowers is most pleasant but rather strong. Some 

 people find that bothersome. 



