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LILAC

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Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 682 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LILAC ,' or See also:

PIPE See also:TREE (Syringa vulgaris), a tree of the See also:olive See also:family, Oleaceae. The genus contains about ten See also:species of ornamental See also:hardy See also:deciduous shrubs native in eastern See also:Europe and temperate See also:Asia. They have opposite, generally entire leaves and large panicles of small See also:regular See also:flowers, with a See also:bell-shaped calyx and a 4-lobed cylindrical corolla, with the two stamens characteristic of the See also:order attached at the mouth of the See also:tube. The See also:common lilac is said to have come from See also:Persia in the 16th See also:century, but is doubtfully indigenous in See also:Hungary, the See also:borders of See also:Moldavia, &c. Two kinds of Syringa, viz. See also:alba and caerulca, are figured and described by See also:Gerard (Herball, 1597), which he calls the See also:white and the See also:blue pipe privets. The former is the common See also:privet, Ligustrum vulgare, which, and the ash tree, Fraxinus excelsior, are the only members of the family native in See also:Great See also:Britain. The latter is the lilac, as both figure and description agree accurately with it. It was carried by the See also:European colonists to See also:north-See also:east See also:America, and is still grown in gardens of the See also:northern and See also:middle states. There are many See also:fine varieties of lilac, both with single and See also:double flowers; they are among the commonest and most beautiful of See also:spring-flowering shrubs. The so-called See also:Persian lilac of gardens (S. dubia, S. chinensis See also:var. Rothomagensis), also known as the See also:Chinese or See also:Rouen lilac, a small See also:shrub 4 to 6 ft. high with intense See also:violet flowers appearing in May and See also:June, is considered to be a hybrid between S. vulgaris and S. persica—the true Persian lilac, a native of Persia and See also:Afghanistan, a shrub 4 to 7 ft. high with bluish-See also:purple or white flowers. Of other species, S.

Josikaea, from Transylvania, has scentless bluish-purple flowers; S. Emodi, a native of the Himalayas, is a handsome shrub with large ovate leaves and dense panicles of purple or white strongly scented flowers. Lilacs grow freely and See also:

flower profusely in almost any See also:soil and situation, but when neglected are See also:apt to become choked with suckers which shoot up in great See also:numbers from the See also:base. They are readily propagated by means of these suckers. Syringa is also a common name for the See also:mock-See also:orange Philadelphus coronarius (nat. ord. See also:Saxifragaceae), a handsome shrub 2 to Io ft. high, with smooth ovate leaves and clusters of white flowers which have a strong orange-like See also:scent. It is a native of western Asia, and perhaps some parts of See also:southern Europe.

End of Article: LILAC

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