Complimentary 
NEW SERIES VOL. VI 
NO. 5 
ARNOLD ARBORETUM 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 
BULLETIN 
OF 
POPULAR INFORMATION 
lAMAlCA PLAIN, MASS. MAY 24. 1920 
Lilacs. The cold wet spring has delayed the opening of the flowers 
of Lilacs as it has those of other plants, but buds on many Lilacs are 
now swelling rapidly and there is every reason to believe that many 
of the plants will be in full bloom by Saturday, the 29th; and that un- 
less unseasonable weather is experienced during the next few days the 
last days of May and the early days of June will see the general Lilac 
collection at its best. The large part of the Arboretum collection con- 
sists of seedling varieties of the plant which has been a favorite in 
gardens for centuries, and to most persons the only Lilac— the Syringa 
vulgaris of botanists. It is now known that this shrub came originally 
from the mountains of Bulgaria and that it reached western Europe 
by the way of Constantinople in 1597. The date of its introduction into 
the United States is not known, but it was a common garden plant 
here before the end of the eighteenth century and may have been here 
much earlier. There are specimens in the collection raised a few years 
ago from seeds of the wild Bulgarian plants. These are interesting 
because it is possible by comparing them with modern Lilacs to see 
the changes three centuries of selection and cultivation have made in 
these plants. 
Hardly a week passes without a letter addressed to the Arboretum 
asks for the names of the best, or of the best six or of best twenty-five 
Lilacs. There are now one hundred and fifty named forms of the com- 
mon Lilac in the collection. They are all or nearly all handsome plants, 
and no two persons ever agree about their individual value. Some per- 
sons prefer flowers of one color and other persons prefer flowers of 
another color; some persons like the Lilacs with double flowers and 
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