Syringa vulgaris in commerce today. Lemoine's "French lilacs" extended the limited color range to include deeper, more saturated hues, and they also introduced double-flowered "sports", with the stamens replaced by extra petals. These cultivars have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit: Syringa vulgaris Syringa vulgaris (lilac or common lilac) is a species of flowering plant in the olive family Oleaceae, native to the Balkan Peninsula, where it grows on rocky hills. This species is widely cultivated as an ornamental and has been naturalized in other parts of Europe (including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Italy), as well as
A Flowering Tree: A Woman's Tale particular kind of tree may have both negative and positive factors and therefore it need not be pulled down. This folktale shows a strong connection between woman and nature. The metaphoric connections between a tree and a woman are many and varied in the culture. A relevant one here is that the words for "flowering" and "menstruation" are the same in languages like Sanskrit and Tamil. In Sanskrit, a menstruating woman is called a "puspavati", "a woman in flower," and in Tamil, "pūttal" ("flowering") means menstruation. Menstruation itself is a form and a metaphor for a woman's special creativity. Thus