Syringa vulgaris L.
lilac
Rhizomatous shrub to c. 5 m high, often forming a dense thicket; vegetative parts glabrous, except for short glandular hairs when young. Shoots angular. Petioles to c. 3 cm long, slender. Lamina 3-12 × 2-8 cm, broad-ovate; base commonly subcordate, sometimes broad-cuneate or truncate; apex acute or acuminate. Panicles large and erect, up to 15 cm long (longer in cultivated plants), usually axillary from paired apical buds; branches with minute glandular hairs; bracts and bracteoles lanceolate to linear-subulate, sometimes > pedicels. Fls mauve, very fragrant. Calyx c. 2 mm long, with minute glandular hairs; lobes broad and shallow. Corolla tube 6-8 mm long; lobes 4-6 mm long, oblong or elliptic-oblong, rounded or obtuse. Anthers subsessile, 1.5-1.8 mm long, near apex of tube. Style and stigma = or < corolla tube. Capsule 1-1.5 cm long, acute or acuminate.
S.: Clyde (C. Otago).
S.E. Europe 1988
Waste places in and around settlements, near shrubberies and plantations.
FL Sep-Nov.
Lilac was introduced by the early European settlers and was subsequently planted abundantly in all districts. Lilac seedlings are rare and the few spontaneous plants are likely to have originated from rhizomes or suckers. The dense suckering thickets long persist in abandoned gardens, cemeteries and domains. The originally introduced single, mauve-flowered plant is the only one reported wild. However, the commonly cultivated white-flowered cv. 'Alba' also forms suckering thickets and so can be expected to escape occasionally. Other spp. and several hybrids are cultivated in N.Z., but none have been reported naturally regenerating.
