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States, found in 1915 quantities of a Lilac covering hillsides in Kansu. 
Plants raised from seeds of this Lilac have flowered and proved iden¬ 
tical with the lobed leaf form of Syringa persica and as the plants 
have grown stronger they produce branches with the entire leaves of 
the type of the species. Since 1915 the Arboretum has also received 
dried specimens of this Lilac collected in Kansu. As a specimen of a 
wild plant from Persia is not to be found in the large European her¬ 
baria, there is every reason to believe that the Persian Lilac is a Chin¬ 
ese plant, brought from China to western Asia and Europe just as the 
Peach arid other Chinese plants found their way westward. 
Fifty years ago the species of Syringa known in this country were 
Syringa vulgaris, S. persica, the Hungarian S. Josikaea, the Himalayan 
Emodii, and the Chinese S. oblata and S. amurensis, and two hybrids. 
Now there are twenty-seven species growing here with a few varieties 
and nearly all the known hybrids. In addition to these are a few spe¬ 
cies or perhaps forms which have been described by botanists but not 
yet introduced into cultivation. Of the twenty-seven species now in 
this country, twenty-two have been introduced by the Arboretum. 
Among these Arboretum introductions there are several beautiful and 
important garden plants. Among them for many persons the best is 
Syringa pubescens. This is a tall shrub with erect stems, small 
leaves and broad clusters of small, pale mauve flowers with a long slen¬ 
der corolla-tube. For their fragrance which is more pungent and de¬ 
lightful than that of the flower of any other Lilac, Syringa pubescens 
should find a place in every northern garden. Plants in the United 
States have failed to produce seeds and as this species has proved un¬ 
usually difficult to increase by cuttings, it has remained one of the 
rarest Lilacs in American gardens. It can, of course, be increased by 
grafting and sooner or later fertile seeds will be found on some of the 
large plants growing in the Arboretum. Syringa pubescens has been 
growing in the Arboretum since 1883 where it was raised from seeds 
sent here by Dr. Bretschneider from Peking. 
Syringa villosa is another first rate garden plant for which the United 
States is also indebted to Dr. Bretschneider. It is a large, round-topped 
bush from ten to twelve feet tall and wide, with large, broad, elliptic 
to oblong leaves, bright green and dull on the upper surface and pale 
below, a broad or narrow cluster of flesh colored or nearly white flow¬ 
ers which have the rather disagreeable odor of those of the Privet. 
In spite of this drawback S. villosa is a good garden plant; the habit 
is excellent; it flowers freely every year and the flowers do not open 
until those of most other Lilacs have faded. 
Syringa Sweginzowii is a native of northwestern China and came to 
the Arboretum by the way of St. Petersburg. It is a narrow shrub 
with slender erect branches, narrow leaves and long narrow clusters of 
slightly fragrant flowers, flesh-colored in the bud and becoming white 
after opening, with a long slender corolla tube. The relationship of this 
Lilac which flowers profusely every year, is with S. pubescens but it is a 
smaller plant blooming ten or twelve days later and the flowers are 
much less fragrant. As it grows in the Arboretum, S. Sweginzowii is 
one of the handsomest of the Lilacs of recent introduction. 
