Persian Lilac Difficult To Obtain
While the name Syringe persica is listed in many nursery catalogs
, the true Persian lilac is difficult to obtain. There are a hundred chances to one that by this name you will get not it but one or another form of Syringe chinensis, which represents a series of hybrids between the Persian and the common lilacs.
These are larger-growing plants, often 10 feet high or more, with leaves narrower than those of the common lilac but resembling them in shape and with larger flower clusters that run all the way from pale, whitish lilac to the deep red of the original S. chinensis hybrid known as S. rhotomagensis. Their fragrance varies from very faint to the strong and doubtfully pleasant odor of the last-named. It is never the distinctive, exquisitely spicy perfume of the Persian lilac.
The Persian lilac forms a graceful, diffuse shrub rarely over 6 feet high, broader than high. The friend's plant is a very old plant in a Poughkeepsie, New York, garden. which is 6 feet high and about 10 feet wide. It has thin, willowy branches arched outward and curved downward with the weight of the flower clusters and calls a
wireless outdoor speakers its neighbor. Its leaves are rather dark, slightly bluish green, very slender, tapered at both ends and about 21A times as long as wide, a few of them usually deeply and pointedly lobed.
The flower clusters are mostly not of pyramidal outline like those of the S. vulgaris hybrids but irregular in form. They consist principally of two branches from the topmost pair of buds. but these are usually augmented by lesser clusters from one or more pairs of lateral buds immediately below. The effect is definitely that of terminal clusters. Contrasting with this, those of the S. chinensis hybrids are commonly augmented by clusters from numerous pairs of lateral buds, so that their effect is more or less markedly elongated to quite cylindrical.
The color of the flowers of the Persian lilac is best described as "lilac." It varies very little, if any, except that in bright sun the blossoms will be paler than in darker situations and generally they fade to whitish before they pass. The rather uniform color is explained by the fact that S. persica is practically a don (a plant propagated only vegetatively).
It does not - or perhaps very rarely - set seed and has therefore been propagated vegetatively. In this matter it differs from the cut-leaf kind that has long been known in gardens as S. persica laciniata but is now more properly known as a distinct species, S. laciniata. It sets seeds and comes true from seed, presumably with some slight variation as to flower color. This cut-leaf lilac has much broader, deeply lobed leaves but closely resembles the Persian lilac in floral effect.
It is most unfortunate that the Persian lilac has practically disappeared from our nurseries due to the confusion of it with the much larger and less fragrant S. chinensis hybrids. It is in just this manner that many excellent shrubs go into oblivion. They disappear in clouds of confusion. When two kinds of plants come to be mistaken one for the other, usually the more robust or more easily propagated kind wins out; the other, often the choicer, fades out of sight.
A Useful Shrub
The Persian lilac is a particularly sad loss. For in my estimation it is not 'only the daintiest of all lilacs, but because of its diffuse and graceful character and limited height, it is one of the most eligible of all border shrubs. It requires no fussing and grows into a neat-looking bush without benefit of pruning. It does not become leggy and holds out, within convenient smelling reach, finely fragrant flowers that are charming on the bush but not as handsome for cutting as those of the S. vulgaris hybrids. It is contented with ordinary border soils and conditions and even endures a slight degree of overhead shade.
If you should want to plant it you will have to go hunting for it. Like all good plant hunters, - however, you must not expect to succeed at the first try. But the plant is worth considerable trouble.
The Persian lilac, as well :he cut-leaf S. laciniata. has been cultivated in Western gardens for centuries. Until rather recently the Persian lilac was believed to be a wild species of Iranian origin and S. laciniata to be merely a variety of it. It now appears that S. persica is a hybrid originated in gardens in Iran, a cross between two species, one from China and the other from Afghanistan. The Chinese parent is S. laciniata, which was not known to be a wild lilac until it was discovered in Kansu Province in 1915. The other parent is S. afghanica. It seems that the two parent species were brought to Iran and the hybrid S. persica into Europe along ancient trade routes. It is a truly lovely shrub that somehow measures up to notions of perfume and charm that one associates with the thought of Persian gardens.
by: Keith Markensen.
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