Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/474

 468 LILAC Maritime Alps, separating it from Transalpine Gaul. It thus embraced the whole modern province of Genoa, the territory of Nice, and some adjoining parts, a mountainous country traversed by the Alps and Apennines, whose most important products were cattle and tim- ber. ' The inhabitants, called Ligyes by the Greeks and Ligures by the Romans, were a strong, active, and warlike people of uncertain origin, some identifying them with the Celts, others with the Iberians, and still others with the Siculi. In early times they were wide- spread, occupying among others the southern coasts of Gaul, and are even mentioned by Hesiod as one of three principal nations of the earth. Eratosthenes and Strabo call the whole west of the European continent Ligystice (Li- guria). The Romans divided them into Trans- alpine and Cisalpine Ligurians, calling the in- habitants of the maritime range Alpini and those of the Apennines Montani. Their tribes on both sides of the Alps were numerous. Their country was first invaded by the Romans during the period which elapsed between the first and second Punic wars, but it was not till some years after the termination of th*e latter that the final and fierce struggle was com- menced which terminated with their subjuga- tion and the transplantation of some of their tribes to Samnium. Among the principal towns of Liguria under the Romans were Genua (Genoa), Nicsea (Nice), Polentia (Pol- lenza), Asta (Asti), and Dertona (Tortona). (For the Ligurian Republic, see GENOA.) LILAC, an ornamental flowering shrub, the name of which is said to have been introduced with the plant. It belongs to the genus syringa, of the olive family ; the generic name is from the Greek for pipe or tube (avpryt;), on account of the tubular form of the flowers, or according to some because the wood is used for pipe stems ; this latter seems the more probable, as a cen- tury ago the lilac and the shrub now cultivated as the mock orange (Philadelphus coronarius) were both known in English gardens as pipe tree ; it is singular that the botanical name for the lilac is retained as one of the popular names for Philadelphus, which is frequently called syringa. The lilac has opposite leaves with scaly buds in the axils, but a terminal bud is rarely formed, so that each branch has a pair of buds at its tip The flowers, which appear in early spring, are in large pyramidal panicles, and are delightfully fragrant ; the corolla has a long tube, with a salver-formed, four-lobed limb ; stamens two, attached to the tube of the corolla ; fruit a two-celled capsule, with one or two slightly winged seeds in each cell. The best known species is the common lilac (S. vul- garis), which was formerly supposed to be ex- clusively a native of Persia, but it is also found wild in eastern Europe ; it was introduced into European gardens in 1597 by way of Constan- tinople. As commonly seen in old gardens, the lilac forms a dense thicket on account of the numerous suckers it produces, but if these are kept subdued it may be made to form a tree 20 ft. or more high, with a clear trunk ; it is not regarded as a long-lived tree ; it has been used to form hedges, but is objectionable from its tendency to spread. The suckers af- ford a means for readily propagating the plant, but new varieties are obtained by seed. The normal color of the flowers is a pale dull blue, with a slight admixture of red, known in the nomenclature of tints as lilac color ; the vari- eties are white, red, violet, &c., and there are those with double flowers ; among the finest varieties is that known as Charles X., with enormous panicles of the finest color. The Persian lilac (S. Persica) is a small slender shrub, from 3 to 6 ft. high, with lance-ovate Charles the Tenth Lilac. leaves and looser clusters of flowers, of a paler color than the common ; there is a white vari- ety of this, and varieties in which the leaves are much cut and. divided. Josika's lilac (8. Josikwa) has wrinkled and darker foliage than the common, and bluish-purple flowers with- out odor, and blooms much later than any of the forms of S. vulgaris, to which species some are disposed to refer it. A Himalayan species, S. Emodi, is in cultivation, but not superior as an ornamental plant to the best forms of the com- mon lilac. Another doubtful species, S. dubia, which has also received the name of 8. Roiho- gamensis, is by some considered a hybrid be- tween the common and the Persian. As orna- mental garden shrubs all the lilacs are popular, and are hardy and easily managed. In France