46 SYLVA FLQRIFERA. 



had been sent ambassador from the Emperor 

 Ferdinand I. to the Sultan Soliman. 



The generic name of this plant, Syringa, is 

 derived from the Greek Lvgtv% , a pipe, because 

 when the pith is taken from the wood it 

 formed pipes like those which Pan made of 

 the reeds into which the nymph Syrinx was 

 transformed. 



Thou,' he said, 



* Who canst not be the partner of my bed, 

 At least shall be the consort of my mind, 

 And often, often to my lips be join'oV 

 He form'd the reeds, proportion^ as they are, -* 

 Unequal in their length, and wax'd with care, i 

 They still retain the name of his ungrateful fair." 3 



Ovid. 



Hence as syrinx and syringa meant a pipe, 

 the lilac was called the Pipe-tree when first 

 known in England; and under that name 

 Parkinson writes of it in 1640, and Roy in 

 1665. Although Gerard says, in 1597, " The 

 later phisitions do name the blew pipe-tree Lil- 

 lach, or Lilac, and some Syringa." This author 

 tells us, that the lilacs were then growing in 

 his garden in very great plenty, where they 

 flowered in April and May : and he adds, 

 " but as yet they haue not borne any fruite in 

 my garden, though in Italie and Spaine their 

 fruite is ripe in September ;" from which we 

 learn it was then common in Europe ; but we 



