LILACS 



3e>9 



J. SAMBAC (Aiabijin). Stove evergreen climber. Leaves more or 



less heart-shaped, waved. Flowers white, fragrant, in small cymes ; all 



the year. 



Cultivation. "^^^^ hardy species succeed in most garden soils, but 



require to be kept neatly nailed up, unless trained over 



trellis or arbour. For the more tender kinds in the greenhouse or stove 



a compost of loam and peat in equal portions is recommended, 'riit y 



are all propagated by cuttings, which should be taken from fiiiu _N(,uiig 



wood, and inserted in sandy peat soil under a hand-glass. Tlie teiidiT 



species will, of course, require to be put in heat, in addition. J. /hu//- 



flormn is a very desii-able climber on account of its rapid growth, its 



easy adaptability to almost any situation, and its wealth of golden 



blossoms all through winter. 



Description of Jasminum officinale: a flowering branch, natural 



Plate 177. size. An enlarged section of the flower is shown in 



Natural Order Oleace.*:. Genus Si/rivga 



Syringa (Latin, syrimjw, a pipe). A genus comprising less than a dozen 

 hardy species of shrubs, bearing opposite, entire, heart-shaped leaves. 

 and terminal, compound panicles of small, fragrant flowers. The calyx 

 is bell-shaped, irregularly toothed : the corolla salver-shaped, with four 

 lobes and two stamens. The species are natives of South-Eastern 

 Europe, Persia, Northern India, and China. 



History. ^° common is the Lilac, Sijrh<ja luhjari^, in British 



gardens that it seems as though it must always have been 

 there. We know that it has been with us for at least three hundred years, 

 and probably half a century more, for it had extended from Persia into 

 Western Europe before the middle of the sixteenth century, bringing 

 with it the Persian name Likuj. The true Persian Lilac, S. persica 

 a much smaller species, was not introduced till 1640. S. chinensis, 

 which IS commonly called Persian Lilac in gardens, has had several 

 names, and its correct status can scarcely be flxed yet. It has been 

 variously dubbed S. duhia and >S'. rofho.na^e.^U In 1777, M. Varin, 



of the Botanic Gardens & 

 and it was consequently kn 



lid it among seedlings of S. jyersica, 

 le \ arin or Rouen Lilac : but later 

 u • u . •, , ^^""^^ ''''^^' '-• ^^'^''^^'^^^^' ^vhich is itself suspected of 



bemg a hybrid between S. persica and S. vulgaris. There are those also 





