Syringa L.

Type species: Syringa vulgaris L.

Synonyms (links to GRIN): Busbeckia, Ligustrina, Lilac, Lilaca, Lilacum

Distribution: Temperate Eurasia

Number of species: about 20

Description (from Flora of China): Shrubs or small trees, deciduous. Branchlets terete or 4-angled; pith solid; winter buds scaly, terminal buds often absent. Leaves opposite, simple or rarely pinnate, petiolate; leaf blade entire, pinnatisect or occasionally lobed. Inflorescences paniculate, terminal or lateral, generally composed of small cymes. Flowers bisexual, sessile or pedicellate. Calyx campanulate, regularly or irregularly 4-toothed or subtruncate, persistent. Corolla funnelform, salverform, or rotate; lobes 4, spreading or upright, valvate, usually cucullate and beaked at apex. Stamens 2, included or exserted. Ovules 2 in each locule, pendulous. Style filiform, shorter than stamens; stigma 2-cleft. Fruit a loculicidal capsule, slightly compressed. Seeds 2 in each locule, flat, narrowly winged; endosperm present; radicle erect.

Links to species lists

• Syringa extracted from the GRIN database
• Syringa in the Flora of China
• Syringa extracted from the Flora Europaea database

Links to images

• My photos of Syringa (julianae, komarowii, reflexa, reticulata, tomentella, vulgaris, and yunnanensis)
• Syringa from Vascular Plant Image Library, Digital Flora of Texas

Other information about Syringa

• Syringa cultivars from T-LAN (Taxonomy of Landscape Plants)

References

• Bai, P. Y. 1979. Some new taxa of Oleaceae from Tibet, China. Acta Botanica Yunnanica 1(1): 151-156.
• Decaisne, M. J. 1879. Monographie de genres Ligustrum et Syringa. Nouv. Arch. Mus. Nist. Nat., sér. 2, 2: 1-45.
• Fiala, J. L. 1988. Lilacs: the genus Syringa. Christopher Helm, London.
• Green, P. S. 1979. Syringa meyeri cv. `Palibin'. Bot. Mag. 182: 117-120, t. ns778.
• Green, P. S. 1989. The laciniate-leaved liliacs. Kew Mag. 6: 116-124, t. 132.
• Green, P. S. 1995. Proposal to reject the name Syringa buxifolia Nakai (Oleaceae). Taxon 44(4): 636.
• Green, P. S. & Chang, M. C. 1995. Some taxonomic changes in Syringa L. (Oleaceae), including a revision of series Pubescentes. Novon 5(4): 329-333.
• Green, P. S. & Fliegner, H. J. 1991. When is a privet not a lilac? Kew Mag. 8: 58-63, t. 171.
• Kang, K. H. & Chang, C. S. 1998. Systematic study of Syringa (Oleaceae) in Korea. Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy 28(3): 249-279.
• Kim, K-J & Jansen, R. K. 1998. A chloroplast DNA phylogeny of Lilacs (Syringa, Oleaceae): plastome groups show a strong correlation with crossing groups. Am. J. Bot. 85(9): 1338-1351.
• Li, J. & Alexandra, J. H. & Zhang, D. 2002. Paraphyletic Syringa (Oleaceae): evidence from sequences of nuclear ribosomal DNA ITS and ETS regions. Syst. Bot. 27(3): 592-597.
• McKelvey, S. D. 1928. The lilac - a monograph. The Macmillan Company, New York.
• Pringle, J. S. 1981. A review of attempted and reported interseries and intersubgeneric hybridization in Syringa (Oleaceae). Baileya 21: 101-123.
• Pringle, J. S. 1983. A summary of the currently accepted nomenclature at the specific and varietal levels in Syringa. Lilac Newsl. 9(3): 1-6.
• Rehder, A. 1928. Description of the genus and its sections with a key to the species. In: McKelvey, S. D. The Lilac - a monoghraph, pp. 9-14.
• Sax, K. 1930. Chromosome number and behavior in the genus Syringa. J. Arnold Arbor. 11: 7-14.
• Smith, W. W. 1916. Note on Parasyringa, a new genus of Oleaceae. Trans. Bot. Soc. Edinburgh 27: 93-96.

Maintained by Eva Wallander | Last updated: 2006-12-25