Syringa vulgaris ultimately for the plants, was Pietro Andrea Mattioli, as one can tell from a unique copy of Tradescant's plant list in his Lambeth garden, an adjunct of his "Musaeum Tradescantianum"; it was printed, though probably not published, in 1634: it lists "Lilac Matthioli". That Tradescant's "lilac of Mattioli's" was a white one is shown by Elias Ashmole's manuscript list, "Trees found in Mrs Tredescants Ground when it came into my possession" (1662): "Syringa alba". In the American colonies, lilacs were introduced in the 18th century. Peter Collinson, F.R.S., wrote to the Pennsylvania gardener and botanist John Bartram, proposing to send
Prunus padus and spring display of fragrant, white flowers. The common name Mayday tree is not related to the distress signal mayday as the name for the tree was in use prior to the adoption of mayday as an international distress signal. A taboo on the use of the wood was reported by natives of Advie, in northeast Scotland, being regarded as a "witches tree". Prunus padus Prunus padus, known as bird cherry, hackberry, hagberry, or Mayday tree, is a flowering plant in the rose family Rosaceae. It is a species of cherry, a deciduous small tree or large shrub up to