CHAP. LXXV. 



OLEA N CE^E. SYRl'XGJ. 



1211 



ment to whom it was named by Baron Jacquin. It is an upright shrub, with 

 spreading branches, and purple twigs. Its leaves are elliptic-lanceolate, 3 in. 

 long, and l£in. broad, shining and lucid green above, and white beneath, in 

 the manner of those of the balsam poplar; but of a deep dark green, some- 

 thing like that of the leaves of Chionanthus. It was found growing in shady 

 places, near water, along with .Fagus sylvatica, Cory I us Jvellana, Fraxinus, 

 5pira3 v a, .Rosa, Ribes, and ^tragene, and rising from the height of 12 ft. to 

 that of 18ft. (See Allgem. Gartenzeit., vol. i. p. 5.) This sort has certainly 

 a very different appearance from the common lilac ; but it may, after all, 

 be only a variety of it. It was first sent to Britain by Messrs. Booth 

 of the Floetbeck Nurseries ; and there are now plants in the Garden 

 of the Horticultural Society, in the Edinburgh Botanic Garden, and in 

 some other collections ; so that there can be no doubt but that, by grafting 

 and budding, it will soon be as easily to be procured in the British nur- 

 series as the common lilac. The price of plants, in the Fulham Nursery, 

 is 7*. 6c?. each. 



a 3. S. pe'rsica L. The Persian Lilac. 



Identification. Lin. Sp., 11. ; Don's Mill., 4. p. 51. ; Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836. 

 Si/noni/mes. Lilac minor Mccnch ; Lilac p^rsica Lam. ; Lilas de Perse, Fr. 



Engravings. Curt. Bot. Mag., t. 486. ; Mill. Fig., 164. f. 1.; Mant., t. 57. ; Pluk. Phyt.,227. f. 8. ; 

 and ouxjig. 1089. 



Spec. Char., $c. Leaves small, lanceolate, entire. 

 Flowers purple. (Don's Mill., iv. p. 51.) A shrub, 

 from 4 ft. to 6 ft. high ; a native of Persia. In- 

 troduced in 1640, and flowering in May and June. 

 It is one of the most common, and, at the same 

 time, one of the most ornamental, of our low 

 deciduous shrubs. It is frequently planted in pots, 

 and forced so as to come into flower at Christmas, 

 for the purpose of ornamenting rooms ,• and it is 

 remarkable, that, though the flowers are very fra- 

 grant when they expand naturally in the open air, 

 yet in the hot-house they are quite scentless; 

 doubtless from the want of sufficient light to 

 elaborate the volatile oil, which is the cause of 

 the odour. In Paris, it is said, they retard the 

 Persian lilacs, by placing them in an icehouse in 

 December, and keeping them there till the Sep- 

 tember or October following, when they will come 

 into bloom without the aid of artificial heat about 

 Christmas, so as to be ready for the bouquets given as presents on New 

 Year's Day. (See Gard. Mag., vii. p. 247.) The species is generally 

 propagated by cuttings, and the varieties by layers. 



Varieties. 



3fc S.p. 2 alba Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836. The white Persian Lilac- 



lanceolate, entire. Flowers white. 

 * S. p. 3 lacinidta Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836, 

 Mill. Diet., No. 3., Icon., t. 164. 

 f. 2., and our/g. 1040., Lin. Hort. 

 Cliff. 6., Lodd. Bot. Cab., 1107., 

 Munting, t. 56., Tourn. Inst., 602. ; 

 S. capitata Gmel. Itin., iii. p. 304. 

 t. 32. f. 1., Schmidt Baum., ii. p. 79. ; 

 Lilas a Feuilles de Persil, Fr. The 

 cut-\eaved Persian Lilac. — This va- 

 riety has some of its leaves pin- 

 natifidly cut, and nearly all of them 

 cut in some manner. 



