Syringa josikaea Syringa josikaea Syringa josikaea, the Hungarian lilac, is a species of lilac, native to central and eastern Europe, in the Carpathian Mountains in Hungary, Romania, and western Ukraine. It is a deciduous shrub growing to a height of 2–4 m. The leaves are elliptic-acute, 6–12 cm long, with a finely hairy margin. The flowers are dark pink, with a tubular base to the corolla 15 mm long with a narrow four-lobed apex 3–4 mm across, with a strong fragrance; they are produced in slender panicles up to 15 cm long in early summer. The fruit is a dry, smooth brown
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,