LILAC, Syringa vulgaris, L., belongs to the olive family, Oleacex. The common lilac is said to have come from Persia in the 16th century, but according to Heuffel it is indigenous in Hungary, the borders of Moldavia, &c. (De Candolle, Prod., viii. p. 282). Two kinds of Syringct, viz., alba and cxrulea, are figured and described in Gerard's Herball (1597), which he calls the white and the blue pipe privets. The former is the common privet, Ligustrunt vulgare, L., which, and the ash tree, Fraxinus excelsior, L., are the only members of the family native in Great Britain. The latter is the lilac, as both figure and description agree accurately with it. It was carried by the European colonists to North-East America, and is still grown in gardens of the Northern and Middle States. There are several varieties of lilac, e.g., "Dr Lindley," which bears large clusters of reddish lilac flowers, alba, violacea, rubra insignia, and rosea grandifloret. S. dubia, Pers., or chinensis, Willd., the Siberian lilac, is a closely allied species, if it be really distinct. The variety Rothomogensis, Mirb., or Lilas Varin of the French, probably belongs to this species. Of other species, there is S. Josibea, Jack., from Transylvania, with scentless bluish-purple flowers, S. L'inodi, Wall., a native of the mountains of India, and S. persica, L., the Persian lilac, rarely exceeding 4 or 5 feet, the flowers of which vary from rosy carmine to white.