July 4, iSSS. 



Garden and Forest. 



221 



Syringa vulgaris is a native of tlie mountainous region of 

 central Europe from Piedmont to Hungary. It has l^een a 

 favorite garden pljuit for tliree centuries, and has produced 

 in cuUivation a g'reat number of varieties witli more or less 

 dense inflorescence, and with flowers varying from purplisli 

 red to pure white. Doulile-flowered and lilotchetl-leavcd 

 varieties are cultivated. The leaves of this species and of 

 all tlie varieties are often greatly disfigured in the United States 

 during the summer and autumn months l)y the attack of a 

 white mildew. 



Syringa oblata (see illustration on this page) is not known in- 

 a wild state; it was first discovered hy Fortune in a garden at 

 Shanghai, and later by the Abbe Da\-id in gardens ne-ar Pekin. 

 Its perfect hardiness' in this climate indicates its northern 

 origin. 5. oblata differs but slightly in botanical characters 

 from some forms of .S'. inilgaris, a geographical variety of 

 which, it should, perhaps, be considered, although, from a 

 garden point of view, quite distinct. Hei'e it flowers ten or 

 twelve days earlier than the earliest varieties of S. vulgaris, 

 and its thick leathery lca\-es, which are never attacketl Ijv mil- 



»N.,I^ 



1 







FIk. 39— S_v.il.; 



2. .S". ohlala, Lindl. Leaves broadly cordate or deltoid, 

 sharply acuminate ; thyrsus short and broad, often in 

 pairs from the ends of tlie smooth or sh'ghtly puberulent 

 branches ; flowers large, appearing just before or with the 

 unfolding of the leaves ; calyx irregularly dentate, the 

 teeth obtuse or sublanceolate, the tube slightly glandular ; 

 lobes of the corolla round and flat; anthers included; fruit 

 smooth-ovate, acute. 



..l.latn. 



dew, turn in the autmnn to a rich dark russet-red color, a 

 character which should be taken advantage of by hybridizers 

 to secure a new race of Lilacs with the large inllorescence 

 of S. vulgaris and the foliage of this Chinese plant. .S". oblata 

 is a stout spreading shruli here, now eight or ten feet high, 

 llowering jirofusely every year. There is a white-llowered 

 \ariety, which has not flowered here. 



3. ^. Chinciisis, Willd. Leaves ovale, acuminate, obtuse 

 or rounded at the base or often contracted into the King, 



