Syringa pubescens
Credits
Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles
Recommended citation
'Syringa pubescens' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
Infraspecifics
Other taxa in genus
- Syringa × chinensis
- Syringa emodi
- Syringa × henryi
- Syringa × hyacinthiflora
- Syringa × josiflexa
- Syringa josikaea
- Syringa komarowii
- Syringa × nanceiana
- Syringa oblata
- Syringa × persica
- Syringa pinetorum
- Syringa pinnatifolia
- Syringa potaninii
- Syringa × prestoniae
- Syringa reticulata
- Syringa tomentella
- Syringa villosa
- Syringa vulgaris
- The Garden Lilacs
Editorial Note
Three subspecies are recognised (Yong et al. 2009), all treated as distinct species by Bean.
A deciduous shrub or small tree, 12 to 15 ft high, forming a rounded head of branches; young shoots glabrous. Leaves 1 to 21⁄2 in. long, 3⁄4 to 11⁄2 in. wide, broadly ovate, sometimes roundish, tapered abruptly at the apex to a short point, rounded or broadly wedge-shaped at the base, dull green and glabrous above, pale and with a little scattered down beneath, most abundant on the midrib; stalk 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 in. long. Flowers fragrant, pale lilac or nearly white, produced along with the young leaves during early May in leafless panicles from one or both of the terminal buds of last year’s shoots. The panicles are 3 to 5 in. long, 2 to 3 in. wide, the corolla-tube slender, 1⁄2 in. long; lobes 1⁄8 in. long, the incurving of the margins making them cupped. Calyx very short, with triangular lobes. Series Pubescentes. Bot. Mag., t. 7064.
Native of N. China; introduced by Dr Bretschneider in 1881. It is only a second-rate lilac in this country, owing to the frequent injury of the young growths and panicles by late frost. In the United States, where the summer heat is greater, and the seasons better defined, it is very beautiful. This shrub has been confused with S. villosa (e.g. Bot. Mag., t. 7064) – see that species entry.
subsp. microphylla (Diels) M.C.Chang & X.L.Chen
Synonyms
Syringa julianae C.K.Schneid.
Editorial Note
Treated by Bean under the names S. julianae and S. microphylla. Both entries are reproduced below.
Syringa julianae
A deciduous spreading shrub of stiff, bushy habit, about 6 ft high; young shoots slender, very downy, the down persisting for two years. Leaves 1 to 2 in. long, 1⁄2 to 1 in. wide, oval (sometimes inclined to ovate or obovate), tapered at the base, finely pointed, dull dark green, with appressed hairs above; grey and very hairy beneath; stalk 1⁄6 to 1⁄3 in. long, hairy. Panicles 2 to 4 in. long, usually in pairs from the terminal buds of the previous year’s shoots, sometimes from the two or three uppermost pairs, hairy like the shoots. Flowers fragrant, 1⁄4 to 1⁄3 in. long, 1⁄8 to 1⁄6 in. across the lobes. Calyx violet-coloured, glabrous, with short pointed lobes. The hairy flower-stalks (about 1⁄8 in. long) carry one to three blossoms. Corolla deep lilac outside, pale inside the lobes. Series Pubescentes. Bot. Mag., t. 8423.
Syringa microphylla
A deciduous shrub 5 ft or more high, of spreading habit, with slender, downy young shoots. Leaves roundish ovate, pointed or rounded at the apex; 1⁄2 to 2 in. long, 1⁄3 to 11⁄4 in. wide, dark green above, greyish green beneath, slightly downy on both surfaces, ciliate; stalk 1⁄6 to 1⁄3 in. long. Panicles 2 to 4 in. long and 11⁄2 to 2 in. wide, produced in pairs at the end of the shoot and often supplemented by lateral ones. Flowers very fragrant, pinkish-lilac, the corolla slender-tubed, 3⁄8 in. long, with the spreading lobes oblong, round-ended, 1⁄8 in. long; calyx downy, helmet-shaped, 1⁄16 in. long, with very short triangular lobes. Seed-vessel spindle-shaped, 1⁄2 in. long, warted. Series Pubescentes.
Syringa julianae
Native of W. China; introduced by Wilson for Messrs Veitch about 1900. It is more downy than S. pubescens subsp. pubescens, with more deeply coloured flowers, and lacks the downy calyx of subsp. patula. It flowers in May and June, and is both distinct and pretty, but not equal to the best lilacs.
Syringa microphylla
A native of N. and W. China; discovered by the Italian missionary Giraldi in 1893; introduced to the Coombe Wood nursery of Messrs Veitch by Purdom in 1910. It is variable in the downiness of the young shoots, leaves, etc., and separate species have been made of its more glabrous forms, which are, however, linked to the typical state by intermediates. It is a very distinct lilac on account of its small size and the often nearly orbicular shape of its leaves. It flowers in June but a second crop of flowers is often produced in autumn on the current year’s leafy shoots.
'Superba'Awards
AGM
Awards
AGM
A particularly floriferous form has been named S. microphylla ‘Superba’.
subsp. patula (Palib.) M.C.Chang & X.L.Chen
Synonyms
Ligustrum patulum Palib.
Syringa velutina Kom.
Syringa palibinian Nakai, but not of gardens (see below)
Syringa patula (Palib.) Nakai
Editorial Note
Treated by Bean as S. patula. His entry is reproduced below in its original form.
A deciduous shrub up to 10 ft high, with slightly downy or glabrous, sometimes glandular, purplish young shoots. Leaves oval, ovate or rhomboidal to lanceolate, long- to short-pointed, tapered at the base, 2 to 21⁄2 in. long, 1⁄2 to 2 in. wide; dark dull green and glabrous or slightly downy above, paler and more or less downy beneath; leaf-stalk 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 in. long. Panicles often in pairs from the terminal pair of buds of the previous season’s shoots, each 4 to 6 in. long, rather thinly set with blossom. Flowers opening in late May and June, fragrant. Corolla very slender, 1⁄3 in. long, less in diameter, of various shades of lilac outside, white within; anthers purple, near to but not reaching the mouth. Flower-stalks and calyx often purplish, varying from downy to glabrous. Seed-vessel 1⁄2 in. long, pointed, warty. Series Pubescentes.
Native of Korea and N. China; discovered in the former country in 1897; introduced to St Petersburg soon after. Mrs McKelvey, in her monograph, sank several names under S. velutina which were previously regarded as specific. Amongst them is S. palibiniana, which had been cultivated under that name since 1917, but only differs in the amount of down carried by the various parts (and which should not be confused with ‘Palibin’, the clone of S. meyeri [syn. S. pubescens subsp. pubescens] which was introduced some years later, incorrectly under the name S. palibiniana and more recently listed, also incorrectly, as S. velutina). There appears, indeed, to be in this species every gradation between glabrousness and the velvetiness its synonym implies.
subsp. pubescens
Synonyms
Syringa meyeri C.K.Schneid.
Editorial Note
Bean’s description, adapted below, is based on the form described by Schneider as S. meyeri (the type collected in Beijing by F. N. Meyer in 1910), now regarded as an extreme cultivated variety of the subspecies (Jin-Yong, Zuo-Shuang & De-Yuan 2009).
This lilac was introduced by F. N. Meyer from Chihli, N. China, in 1908 to the United States Dept. of Agriculture by means of cuttings. It is a deciduous shrub of dense, compact habit growing up to 5 or 6 ft high, with slightly downy, squarish young shoots. Leaves oval, sometimes inclined to obovate, 3⁄4 to 13⁄4 in. long, not quite so wide, glabrous except occasionally for down on the veins beneath. Two pairs of veins run from the base of the leaf to the apex parallel with the margins. The violet-purple flowers are produced in May and June, densely packed in panicles up to 4 in. long and 21⁄2 in. wide. Corolla 1⁄2 in. long, with spreading lobes giving it a diameter of over 1⁄4 in. Calyx and flower-stalks either glabrous or slightly downy. Seed-vessel 1⁄2 to 3⁄4 in. long, warted. Series Pubescentes.
Meyer’s lilac is only known as a cultivated plant in N. China. Meyer’s cultivated form differs from the typical subspecies in the leaves more tapered at the base and less downy beneath; the type also has three or more pairs of veins.
Flowerfesta Series
A number of cultivars with different flower colours are marketed under this banner.
'Anny200810'PBRSynonyms / alternative names
Flowerfesta White
Synonyms / alternative names
Flowerfesta White
Flowers white.
'Palibin'
A dwarf, slow-growing, compact selection of Syringa pubescens subsp. pubescens (syn. S. meyeri, under which name it is better known). It was introduced under the incorrect name of S. palibiniana and more recently has been listed as S. velutina. Both these names are properly synonyms of S. pubescens subsp. patula. This lilac has been given the clonal name ‘Palibin’ (Bot. Mag., n.s., t. 778).
The reference-plant of this clone, which has become very popular as a rock garden shrub, grows on the Rock Garden at Kew. In about 1978, it was then thirty years old and only 4 ft high and 61⁄2 ft across (Peter Green, Bot. Mag., n.s., t.778). In this article Mr Green remarks that ‘Palibin’ is almost certainly the ‘new Corean lilac’ sold by Japanese nurseries under the erroneous name ’S. palibiniana’. It is of course possible that two or more slightly differing clones were sent out.
