Syringa have a strong fragrance. Flowering varies between mid spring to early summer, depending on the species. The fruit is a dry, brown capsule, splitting in two at maturity to release the two winged seeds. The genus "Syringa" was first formally described in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus and the description was published in "Species Plantarum". The genus name "Syringa" is derived from Ancient Greek word "syrinx" meaning "pipe" or "tube" and refers to the hollow branches of "S. vulgaris". The English common name "lilac" is from the French "lilac" via the Arabic ليلك ("lilak") from Persian نیلک ("nilak") meaning "bluish". Lilacs
A Flowering Tree A Flowering Tree A Flowering Tree is an opera in two acts composed by John Adams with libretto by Adams and Peter Sellars, and commissioned by the New Crowned Hope Festival in Vienna, the San Francisco Symphony, the Barbican Centre in London, the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, and the Berliner Philharmoniker. The story is based on an ancient Indian folk tale with translations by Attipat Krishnaswami Ramanujan. The opera resembles Mozart's "The Magic Flute" in some ways; both operas adapt folk tales, in this case one from southern India, "describing a young couple undergoing