• Bosnian: jorgovan
• Croatian: jorgovan
• Dutch: sering
• Finnish: syreeni
• German: Flieder
• Hindi: बकायन (bakāyan)
• Hungarian: orgona
• Italian: lillà
• Japanese: ライラック (rairakku)
• Persian: (yās-e širvāni)
• Russian: сирень (sirén’)
• Serbian:

  Cyrillic: јоргован

  Roman: jorgovan

• Turkish: leylak
• Urdu: (bakāyan)

• Bosnian: jorgovan
• Croatian: jorgovan
• Dutch: sering
• Finnish: syreeninkukka
• German: Flieder , Zartlila
• Hindi: बकायन (bakāyan)
• Italian: lillà
• Japanese: ライラックの花 (rairakku no hana)
• Persian: (yās-e širvāni)
• Romanian: liliac
• Russian: сирень (sirén’)
• Serbian:

  Cyrillic: јоргован

  Roman: jorgovan

• Turkish: leylak
• Urdu: (bakāyan)

Adjective

1. (colour) having a pale purple colour.

Translations

See also

• syringa
• bunchflower

The unrelated but somewhat similar-looking Chinaberry (Melia azedarach) is sometimes called "lilac" too.

About the color see Lilac (color).

Syringa' (Lilac) is a genus of about 20–25 species of flowering plants in the olive family (Oleaceae), native to Europe and Asia.

They are deciduous shrubs or small trees, ranging in size from 2–10 m tall, with stems up to 20–30 cm diameter. The leaves are opposite (occasionally in whorls of three) in arrangement, and their shape is simple and heart-shaped to broad lanceolate in most species, but pinnate in a few species (e.g. S. protolaciniata, S. pinnatifolia). The flowers are produced in spring, each flower being 5–10 mm in diameter with a four-lobed corolla, the corolla tube narrow, 5–20 mm long; they are A-sexual, with fertile stamens and stigma in each flower. The usual flower colour is a shade of purple (often a light purple or lilac), but white and pale pink are also found. The flowers grow in large panicles, and in several species have a strong fragrance. Flowering varies between mid spring to early summer, depending on the species. The fruit is a dry, brown capsule, splitting in two at maturity to release the two winged seeds.

The genus is most closely related to Ligustrum (privet), classified with it in Oleaceae tribus Oleeae subtribus Ligustrinae.

Lilacs are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Copper Underwing, Scalloped Oak and Svensson's Copper Underwing.

Species

Sources:

A pale purple colour is generally known as lilac after the flower.

Symbolism

Purple lilacs symbolize first love and white lilacs youthful innocence (see Language of flowers). In Greece, Lebanon, and Cyprus, the lilac is strongly associated with Eastertime because it flowers around that time; it is consequently called paschalia.

Syringa vulgaris is the state flower of New Hampshire, because it "is symbolic of that hardy character of the men and women of the Granite State" (New Hampshire Revised Statute Annotated (RSA) 3:5).

Numerous locations around North America hold yearly Lilac Festivals, the longest-running of which is the one in Rochester, New York. Rochester's Lilac Festival held at Highland Park has the most varieties of lilacs at any single place and many of the lilacs were developed in Rochester.

References