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
Tree of the Virgin Tree of the Virgin The Tree of the Virgin is a sycamore tree in the El Matareya suburb of Cairo, Egypt. According to local beliefs, the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph stopped at El Matareya (then a small village) on the Flight into Egypt. Mary rested against the tree and a spring of water sprang up near it for Mary to wash Jesus. For many years its bark was taken by Christians in the belief that it had miraculous properties. It has been a place of pilgrimage for Coptic Christians for many centuries, who come to pray by it or