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
Plant identification Plant identification Plant identification is the process of matching a specimen plant to a known taxon. It uses various methods, most commonly dichotomous keys or multi-access keys. Plant identification has evolved over hundreds of years and depends to a large extent on what criteria and whose system is used. Plant identification implies comparisons of certain characteristics and then assigning a particular plant to a known taxonomic group, ultimately arriving at a species or infraspecific name. In the history of botany many large systems, useful at the time, were widely used for decades until superseded as taxonomic knowledge progressed. The study