Syringa × persica
Credits
Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles
Recommended citation
'Syringa × persica' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
Common Names
- Persian Lilac
Synonyms
- Syringa persica var. laciniata L.
- Syringa laciniata (L.) Mill.
Infraspecifics
Other taxa in genus
- Syringa × chinensis
- Syringa emodi
- Syringa × henryi
- Syringa × hyacinthiflora
- Syringa × josiflexa
- Syringa josikaea
- Syringa komarowii
- Syringa × nanceiana
- Syringa oblata
- Syringa pinetorum
- Syringa pinnatifolia
- Syringa potaninii
- Syringa × prestoniae
- Syringa pubescens
- Syringa reticulata
- Syringa tomentella
- Syringa villosa
- Syringa vulgaris
- The Garden Lilacs
Editorial Note
Syringa persica was treated by Bean as the of Syringa ?afghanica and S. laciniata, both now synonymised with S. persica.
A deciduous shrub, 4 to 6 ft high, of dense, bushy, rounded habit; young shoots slender, glabrous. Leaves lance-shaped or ovate lance-shaped (rarely three-lobed), with a long tapering apex and a more abruptly tapered base, green and glabrous on both sides, 1 to 21⁄2 in. long, 1⁄3 to 1⁄2 in. wide; stalk 1⁄3 in. long. Flowers of the common lilac shade and fragrance, produced in May from the uppermost buds of the preceding summer’s growth in small, sometimes branching panicles, 2 to 3 in. long and as much wide. Corolla-tube about 1⁄4 in. long, the four spreading lobes rather shorter. Calyx funnel-shaped with four short, pointed lobes. Seed-vessels 1⁄2 in. long, cylindrical. Series Syringa. Bot. Mag., t. 486.
A hybrid of unproved but ancient origin, which has been cultivated from time immemorial in Persia and India and had reached Europe by the early 17th century. It has been suggested that one of its parents may be the rare and little known S. afghanica C.K.Schneid., only known from a few collections in the wild and not yet introduced to cultivation.
The Persian lilac is a delightful shrub, both in its neat habit and its fragrant blossom. There is also a white-flowered form of it, cv. ‘Alba’, in cultivation since the 18th century. Both are increased by cuttings of nearly ripe wood.
Syringa laciniata Mill.
Synonyms
S. persica var. á L.
S. persica var. laciniata S. persica var. laciniata(Mill.) West.
A handsome small shrub most easily distinguished by its variable pinnatisect leaves with from three to nine parallel oblong lobes. It produces clusters of violet-purple coloured flowers towards the ends of the branches and is one of the most attractive species. Series Syringa.
A native of Kansu in western China it was presumably taken to Persia as a cultivated plant and from there made its way into western gardens in the 17th century. It is cultivated even today in gardens in Kabul and introductions from there have been incorrectly called S. afghanica, a species so far only known from a few collections in the wild with small entire privet-like leaves.
