Syringa pubescens Syringa pubescens Syringa pubescens is a species of flowering plant in the lilac genus of the family Oleaceae, native to Korea and China (Gansu, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Jilin, Liaoning, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan). Growing to tall and broad, it is a substantial deciduous shrub with green leaves felted white beneath, and panicles of heavily scented, white-throated lilac flowers in early summer. The specific epithet "pubescens" means "downy", referring to the texture of the leaves. Three subspecies (formerly listed as separate species) are recognised: The cultivar "S. pubescens" subsp. "microphylla" 'Superba' has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of
Madonna of the Dry Tree Madonna of the Dry Tree Madonna of the Dry Tree (or Our Lady of the Barren Tree) is a small oil-on-oak panel painting, dated c. 1462–1465, by Early Netherlandish painter Petrus Christus. Unusually innovative and dramatic for its time, it depicts the Virgin Mary holding the Christ Child as she stands on a disembodied dead tree trunk, surrounded by the circular briars of a crown of thorns. The painting is believed to allude to the Book of Ezekiel, with the tree symbolizing the Tree of Knowledge from the Garden of Eden. However, Christus portrays the tree as dead and withered,