Syringa josikaea

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Syringa josikaea

Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Lamiales
Family: Oleaceae
Genus: Syringa
Species: S. josikaea
Binomial name
Syringa josikaea
J.Jacq. ex Rchb.

Syringa josikaea (Hungarian Lilac) is a species of Lilac, native to central and eastern Europe, in the Carpathian Mountains in Hungary, Romania, and western Ukraine.[1][2]

It is a deciduous shrub growing to a height of 2-4 m. The leaves are elliptic-acute, 6–12 cm long, with a finely hairy margin. The flowers are dark pink, with a tubular base to the corolla 15 mm long with a narrow four-lobed apex 3–4 mm across, with a strong fragrance; they are produced in slender panicles up to 15 cm long in early summer. The fruit is a dry, smooth brown capsule, splitting in two to release the two winged seeds.[1][3][4]

[edit] Cultivation and uses

Syringa × josiflexa flowers; its parent S. josikaea differs in the corolla lobes being forward-pointing, not reflexed (a character inherited from its other parent S. komarowii).
Syringa × josiflexa flowers; its parent S. josikaea differs in the corolla lobes being forward-pointing, not reflexed (a character inherited from its other parent S. komarowii).

Growing conditions allow for cool to temperate climate and are fully frost hardy. The plant also grows in full sun to semi shade.[4] Despite its continental European origin, it has proved to be surprisingly successful when cultivated in the oceanic extremes of northwestern Europe on the Faroe Islands and in arctic northern Norway north to Kirkenes.[5]

It has hybridised in cultivation with the closely related Syringa komarowii from China; the hybrid is named Syringa × josiflexa.[3]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Rushforth, K. (1999). Trees of Britain and Europe. Collins ISBN 0-00-220013-9.
  2. ^ Flora Europaea: Syringa josikaea
  3. ^ a b Huxley, A., ed. (1992). New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. Macmillan ISBN 0-333-47494-5.
  4. ^ a b Plants for a Future: Syringa josikaea
  5. ^ Højgaard, A., Jóhansen, J., & Ødum, S. (1989). A century of tree planting on the Faroe Islands. Ann. Soc. Sci. Faeroensis Supplementum 14.