Syringa oblata Syringa oblata Syringa oblata is a species in the genus "Syringa", in the family Oleaceae. It is also known as early blooming lilac or broadleaf lilac. Similar to "Syringa vulgaris", but flowers earlier and has very different leaves. Most commonly seen lilac species in China. Gravelly mountains, roadsides, stream banks, thickets, valleys, and woods. 100-2600m altitude. China: Gansu, Hebei, Henan, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, and northwest Sichuan provinces. Korea: Throughout. Widely cultivated in most areas of China. Many hybrids are cultivated throughout Europe and the Americas, including numerous cultivars of "S." X "hyacinthiflora". "Oblata"
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,