in "lilacdom" 225 



species but in spectacular beauty it transcends them 

 all. 



The Himalayan Lilac (S. emodi) is among the last 

 of the true Lilacs to flower and is less hardy than 

 any other. It is a large bush, or bushy tree, occasion- 

 ally eighteen feet tall, with oblong, pointed leaves, 

 light yellow-green above, silvery gray, and hairy be- 

 low, and bears long, narrow clusters of small white 

 fragrant flowers. In its pale foliage it is distinct 

 from other Lilacs and it is one of the very few species 

 which thrive better in Great Britain than in New 

 England. 



In 1915, the last of the true Lilacs to flower in the 

 Arnold Arboretum was S. Sweginzowii, a new-comer 

 from northwestern China. This is a shrub of com- 

 pact habit with rather slender dark red branches and 

 twiggy branchlets with dark dull green sharp-pointed 

 leaves and long narrow clusters of delicately fragrant 

 blossoms. The flowers are flesh-colored in bud and 

 nearly white when fully open and the corolla-tube is 

 slender and about half an inch long. 



Of true Lilacs some half-dozen other species are 

 in cultivation in the Arnold Arboretum and promise 

 to have their own peculiar sphere of usefulness in 

 gardens. But at present we do not know enough 

 about their garden value, and, since they are scarcely 



