Syringa oblata[1][2][3][4][5] is a species in the genus Syringa, in the family Oleaceae. It is also known as early blooming lilac or broadleaf lilac.[2]
Quick Facts Scientific classification, Binomial name ...
Close
Similar to Syringa vulgaris, but flowers earlier and has very different leaves.[3] Most commonly seen lilac species in China.[5]
- Height: Shrub or small tree to 3.5m[4] or 5m.[2]
- Stems: May be glabrous, pubescent, or puberulent (with fine, minute hairs).[2] Shoots are glabrous.[3]
- Leaves: Ovate-orbicular to reniform,[2][4] often slightly wider than long, measuring 2.5[2]-10[2][4] (occasionally up to 14) cm x 2.5-8 (occasionally 15) cm.[2][3] Leaves range from glabrous to pubescent, villous, or glabrescent (losing hairs with age). Base is truncate to subcordate or broadly cuneate, with an abruptly acute to long acuminate apex.[2] Leaves colour well in fall, often turning to shades of red in autumn.[3][4]
- Flowers: Panicles are lateral, congested, lax, or erect, and measure 4 - 16 (occasionally as much as 20) cm x 3 - 8 (occasionally 10) cm. Pedicel to 3 mm in length, and may be either pubescent or glabrous.[2] Corolla is about 1.3 cm long and 1.7 cm across,[3] and ranges from purple to lilac,[2][3] and occasionally white; tube is subcylindric, and measures 0.6 - 1.7 (occasionally up to 2.2) cm in length.[2] Calyx is slightly glandular.[3] Lobes are oblong to obovate-orbicular or ovate-orbicular and measure 4 - 8 (occasionally 10) mm, spreading. Anthers are yellow, inserted in corolla tube to 4 mm from the mouth.[3] Flowers are fragrant and appear earlier than any other species of Syringa,[4] from April[3] to May[2][3] and June.[2]
- Fruit: Smooth obovate-elliptic to ovate or oblong-lanceolate capsule measures 0.7 - 1.5 (rarely 2) cm.[2]
Gravelly mountains, roadsides, stream banks, thickets, valleys, and woods. 100-2600m altitude.[2]
China: Gansu, Hebei, Henan, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, and northwest Sichuan provinces.
Korea: Throughout.[2]
Widely cultivated in most areas of China.
Many hybrids are cultivated throughout Europe and the Americas, including numerous cultivars of S. x hyacinthiflora, Victor Lemoine's hybrid with S. vulgaris.[2]
Oblata from the modern Latin oblatus, meaning 'somewhat flattened at the ends, oval, oblate'.[3][8] Syringa is derived from the Greek word syrinx, meaning 'pipe' or 'tube'. Named for the use of its hollow stems to make flutes. In Greek mythology, the nymph Syringa was changed into a reed.[8]
Fiala, John L. "Lilacs: a gardener's encyclopedia", 2nd ed. copyright Timber Press 2008. rev. and updated by Freek Vrugtman. First ed. published 1988, copyright Timber Press. ISBN 9780881927955. pp 75-81 Chittenden, Fred J., Synge, Patrick M., editors. 1977. “The Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening”, edn. 2, Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198691068. Volume 4, pp. 2070-2071 Turner, R. G. Jr. "Botanica", edn. 3, printed by Barnes & Noble, Inc. by arrangement with Random House Australia Pty Ltd. 1999. ISBN 0760716420. pp 868 Mabberley, D. J., "Mabberley's Plant-Book", 3rd ed., Cambridge University Press, 2008. ISBN 9780521820714 (hardback) pp 836 Brickell, Christopher "The Royal Horticultural Society A-Z of Garden Plants (Volume 2: K-Z)", 3rd ed. Copyright 1996, 2003, 2008 Dorling Kindersley Ltd., London. ISBN 9781405332965. pp 1019
