Syringa Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd", by Walt Whitman, lilacs are a reference to Abraham Lincoln. "Syringa vulgaris" is the state flower of New Hampshire, because it "is symbolic of that hardy character of the men and women of the Granite State" (New Hampshire Revised Statute Annotated (RSA) 3:5). Several locations in North America hold annual Lilac Festivals, including: Species and subspecies currently accepted as of July 2016: Syringa Syringa (lilac) is a genus of 12 currently recognized species of flowering woody plants in the olive family (Oleaceae), native to woodland and scrub from southeastern Europe to eastern Asia, and widely
Philadelphus × purpureomaculatus Award of Garden Merit. Philadelphus × purpureomaculatus Philadelphus" × "purpureomaculatus is a flowering plant in the family Hydrangeaceae, of garden origin. It is a hybrid between "P." × "lemoinei" and "P. mexicanus" 'Rose Syringa'. Growing to tall by broad, it is a deciduous shrub with broadly oval leaves up to long, and single, cup-shaped flowers in summer (June in the Northern Hemisphere). The flowers, which are strongly fragrant, are pure white with prominent purple markings near the centre; hence the Latin specific epithet "purpureomaculatus", literally "purple spotted". Valued in the garden as a summer-flowering shrub, the cultivar 'Sybille' has gained