AND GENERAL HOKTICULTUEE. 



443 



SYN 



Syngenesious. Having the anthers united at 

 their edges so as to forni a tube. 



Syngo'nium. From eyn, together, and gone, the 

 womb ; alluding to the cohesion of the ovaries. 

 Nat. Ord. Aroidem. 



S. auritum, Introduced from Jamaica, the 

 species most generally found in cultivation, is 

 a rather coarse-growing plants useful only in 

 large collections. S Vellozianum.S. Wenlandii, 

 S. podopkyllum-tnealum, are all very showy 

 sorts and can b3 easily increased by division 

 of the stem in h«at. Any old plants that get 

 too tall m,ay hnve their tops out off and 

 inserted as large cuttings; they will soon 

 root in a warm, moist atmosphere. 



Synno'tia. Named in honor of W. Synnot, who 

 collected many plants at the Cape of Good 

 Hope ; erroneously spelled Synettia. Nab. Ord. 

 IridaceoB. 



A small genus of three very pretty, green- 

 house, bulbous plants, now generally referred 

 to Gladiolus. S. bicolor is found in cultivation 

 under the name of Ixia bicolor. 



Syaonyra.. In botany, a superseded or tinused 

 name. 



Sy'nthyris. From ayn, together, and thyrais, a 

 little door; in allusion to the closed valves 

 of the pod. Nat. Ord. ScrophulariaceoB. 



A genus of hardy, or pilose hardy, herbaceous 

 perennials, with thick rhizomes, natives of 

 northwest America. The bluish or reddish 

 flowers are borne in racemes or spikes four 

 to six inches long ; closely allied to Veronica. 



Syri'nga. The Lilac. Pipe Tree. From syrinx, 

 a pipe ; the branches are long and straight, 

 and filled with medulla ; hence the old name of 

 the Lilac, Pipe Tree. The English name of 

 the genus is from lilac or lilag, the Persian 

 word for the flower. Nat. Ord. OleacecB. 



A genus of. well-known, deciduous shrubs, 

 with purplish or white flowers, natives of 

 southeastern Europe, Persia, northern India 

 and China. All the species are perfectly hardy, 

 and are easily grown. S. iJM/poris,, the com- 

 mon Lilac, with purple or white flowers, is of 

 doubtful origin, though generally credited to 

 Persia. It has been under cultivation for 

 more than a hundred years, and from the 

 species many varieties have been obtained, 

 but without any marked peculiarities. S. 

 Persica, Persian Lilac, is k very distinct 

 species, of much smaller size, rarely growing 

 more than six feet high; the branches are 

 slender and straight, the leaves are smaller' 

 and narrowed at the base. The flowers are 

 produced in looser panicles, and the florets are 

 smaller, giving the whole plant a more grace- 

 ful appearance. The Bouen or Chinese Lilac, 

 S. Ckinensia, known also as S. dubia and S. 

 RotluymCigenaia, is intermediate between the 

 common and the Persian, and is a most desir- 

 able shrub. The large growing, S. ^modi,ivom 

 the Himalayas, is only suitable for large shrub- 

 beries, it being coarse in growth, «,nd not 

 remarkable for its flowers, which are pale 

 pjurple, and produced after those of the com- 

 mon Lilac are pa,st. There is also a variegated 

 form of it. The Hungarian Lilac, S. JoaikcBa, 

 is a pretty shrub, and valuable, as it is quite 

 different from the others. It grows fully six 

 feet high, and bears erect spikes of small, 

 pale, mauve flowers. The new S. Japoniea, 

 Icnown also as S. Amuren^ia and Liffu^trina 



SYR 



Amurensia, is a most valuable, hardy, flowering 

 shrub. Its hardiness, vigorous growth, excel- 

 lent habit, ample foliage, and dense clusters 

 of creamy-white flo wejs, somewhat resembling 

 those of the Japanese privet, appearing at a 

 season when few trees are in bloom make it 

 one of the most desirable of the small trees- 

 recently introduced into gardens. The fact 

 tliat it loses its leaves early in the autumn, 

 and that; they fall while still green, is the only 

 drawback which has yet been noticed in it as 

 an ornamental plant. S. oblata is not known 

 in a wild state; it was first discovered by 

 Fortune in a garden at Shanghai, and later by 

 the Abbe David in gardens near Pekin. Its 

 perfect hardiness in this climate indicates ita 

 northern origin It flowers ten ortwelve dcyiS 

 earlier than S. vulgaris, and its thick, leathery 

 leaves, which are never attacked by mildew, 

 turn in the autumn to a rich, dark russet 

 color, a character which should be taken ad- 

 vantage of by hybridizers to secure a new 

 race of Lilacs with the large inflorescence of 

 S. vulgaris, and the foliage of S. oblala. Seed- 

 ling varieties, many of them much superior 

 in size and color to the species, have been 

 originated in late years and are now in general 

 cultivation. Of the white sorts, the best at 

 the present writing are Marie Legrange, Alba, 

 magna, Alba virginalis and Alba grandiflora. 

 Of the colored sorts the finest is Souvenir 

 de L. Spath, with massive clusters of very 

 large, riohly-coiored fiowers. Charles X. 

 (an excellent variety for early forcing) is a 

 desirable sort, and others good in color are, 

 Alphonse Lavallee, Louis van Houtte, Le Gau.l- 

 ois. Aline Mocquery and Rubra de Marley. 

 There is also a double-flowered section in cul- 

 tivation which have denser flower-clusters, 

 and as a rule last longer in perfection tUaa 

 the single varieties. 



Lilacs are now 'forced in large quantities 

 for cut flowers, and when blanched pure 

 white they have a very chaste and beautiful 

 appearance. One of the best and most useful 

 for this purpose is the variety known aa 

 Charles X. ; its panicles of flowers are much, 

 larger and more compact than the Persian. 

 Lilac of our gardens, which is, however, well 

 adapted for similar use. If forced in suffi- 

 cient heat the coloring matter has no time 

 to form in the flowers, consequently the col- 

 ored sorts are as useful for forcing purposes 

 as the pure white vai^ieties. All the species 

 are rapidly increased from layers or from 

 suckers, the only trouble being that they In- 

 crease so fast as to be troublesome. That 

 the Lilac has iDeen cultivated for centuries 

 there is plenty of evidence. We have person- 

 ally gathered specimens growing with Pars- 

 ley (Apium peifoselinum) in the debris of cas- 

 tles in Great Britain that had been • in ruins 

 for over three hundred years, showing that 

 the warlike barons, or their wives, had some 

 taste for the ornamental as well as the use- 

 ful, even in those early days. 



Syri'nga. A common name for Philadelphu9 

 coronarius, which see. 



Syringo'dea. A small order of pretty, dwarf, 

 green-house, bulbous plants, closely allied to 

 Ixia. S. pulchella has very pretty, pale, purple 

 flowers nearly two^ inches long, with flliform 

 leaves. Introduced from South Africa iu 

 1873- 



