224 ARISTOCRATS OF THE GARDEN 



a native of northern China; and from near Peking, in- 

 troduced by Dr. E. Bretschneider into the Arnold Arbor- 

 etum in 1882. It is a large shrub of excellent habit 

 with erect fairly stout branches and oblong-lance- 

 shaped, rather pale green leaves. The flowers are 

 rose-colored, pink, or nearly white, but they have an 

 unpleasant odor. It is, however, a first-rate garden 

 shrub, exceedingly floriferous, and very valuable for 

 its hardiness and for its late flowers. Very similar in 

 habit to the above but with bluish purple flowers is 

 the Hungarian Lilac (S. Josikaea) and though much 

 inferior to its Chinese relative as a garden shrub it 

 has proved valuable as a parent as we shall see when 

 we come to the hybrids. 



Of all late-flowering Lilacs the most strikingly 

 handsome is S. Wolfii, native of Mandshuria and in- 

 troduced into cultivation at Petrograd by Russian 

 botanists. From there it was sent to the Arnold 

 Arboretum in 1906, before it had received a name. 

 In foliage and habit it resembles 5. villosa but it is 

 much more vigorous and a taller plant. The flowers 

 are small, dark blue-purple to rose-purple and are 

 borne in erect, branched clusters often two feet 

 high and a foot broad and are produced in great pro- 

 fusion. Unfortunately the flowers lack the fragrance 

 of the Common Lilac and of several of the Chinese 



