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White May is flowering,
Red May beside;
Laburnum is showering
Gold far and wide;
But I sing of Lilac,
The dearly-loved Lilac,
Lilac, in Maytime
A joy and a pride!
I love her so much
That I never can tell
If she's sweeter to look at,
Or sweeter to smell.
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Lilacs (White and Mauve)
Botanical: Syringa vulgaris
Family: N.O. Oleaceae
A shrub or small tree up to 20 feet in height producing a crowd of erect stems, occasionally a trunk over 2 feet in girth, clothed with spirally arranged flakes of bark. Shoots and leaves smooth, leaves heart-shape or ovate, 2 to 6 inches long, from 3/4 to almost as much wide near the base; stalk 3/4 to 1 1/2 inch long.
Introduced to Britain during time of Henry VIII, mentioned in an inventory taken at Norwich by Oliver Cromwell.
Used as a medicine to expel instinal worms and as a tonic to reduce
fevers; may be used as a substitute for aloes and in the treatment of malaria. |
