Syringa — Lilac. 2 1 9 



beginning. The species is reputed hardy and capable of 

 doing good service in warmer latitudes than most others. 



^S". villosa is another Chinese sort, having first been 

 seen by a French missionary, about the middle of the last 

 century, in the vicinity of Peking, and by him sent to 

 his own country. This is also sometimes advertised as a 

 new species, but it is so only in the sense of being rare 

 in the section where it is sought to be distributed at that 

 particular time. It has been known to horticulturists and 

 to Old World gardens for more than a hundred years, and 

 is another of the dwarf varieties, growing from four to six 

 feet, and in a somewhat bushy shape. The plant carries 

 large panicles of flowers which are light purple in the bud 

 and when opening to the sunlight, but when fully ex- 

 panded they become a creamy white. One of its excel- 

 lences is found in the fact that it blossoms late in May, 

 fully two weeks after most other sorts. The foliage is 

 especially good, much resembling that of the well-known 

 white fringe, thick, leathery, and glossy. 



S. japonica — Japan lilac. — This is one of the later 

 introductions from that land of flowers which has done so 

 much for our modern horticulture. It is one of the largest 

 of all the lilacs, at times growing with but a single stem 

 some twenty feet high, and producing a spreading and 

 well formed head. Because of this peculiarity it has 

 come to be popularly known as the tree lilac, a designation 

 not at all misapplied. The leaves are large, ovate, sharp- 

 pointed, smooth above, and slightly pubescent beneath. 

 The flower clusters are also of unusual size, in immense 

 trusses of pure or slightly creamy white, but without fra- 



