''Syringa'' × ''diversifolia'', commonly known as the varyleaf lilac, is a hybrid shrub of the genus ''

Syringa ''Syringa'' is a genus of 12 currently recognized species of flowering plant, flowering woody plants in the olive family or Oleaceae called lilacs. These lilacs are native to woodland and scrub from southeastern Europe to eastern Asia, and wid ...

''.

Description

''Syringa'' × ''diversifolia'' is a deciduous shrub that typically grows to a height of . Leaves are mid green, and may be entire, or multi-lobed. The name refers to the multiple shaped leaves on this lilac, one big leaf alongside two or three smaller leaves.

Panicles In botany, a panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a p ...

are fragrant, and are white to pale pink. ''S. × diversifolia'' flowers relatively early in comparison to other lilacs, often flowering mid-April at

Kew Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is ...

, while most other lilacs flower in May. The plant produces

loculicidal Dehiscence is the splitting of a mature plant structure along a built-in line of weakness to release its contents. This is common among fruits, anthers and sporangia. Sometimes this involves the complete detachment of a part. Structures that op ...

capsules.

Distribution and habitat

''S.'' × ''diversifolia'' is a garden hybrid. ''Syringa'' × ''diversifolia'' is fully hardy to temperatures of -15°C.

Taxonomy

''Syringa'' × ''diversifolia'' is a

hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two diff ...

which arose at the

Arnold Arboretum The Arnold Arboretum is a botanical research institution and free public park affiliated with Harvard University and located in the Jamaica Plain and Roslindale, Massachusetts, Roslindale neighborhoods of Boston. Established in 1872, it is the ...

in 1929.

Alfred Rehder Alfred Rehder (4 September 1863 in Waldenburg, Saxony – 25 July 1949 in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts) was a German-American botanical taxonomist and dendrologist who worked at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University. He is generally re ...

, Arnold Arboretum taxonomist, noted that '' Syringa pinnatifolia'' seedlings showed that the flowers had been pollinated by a '' Syringa oblata'' growing nearby. The first clone produced, 'William H. Judd', is noteworthy mainly because of its variable foliage, which may produce, entire,

pinnatifid Pinnation (also called pennation) is the arrangement of feather-like or multi-divided features arising from both sides of a common axis. Pinnation occurs in biological morphology, in crystals, such as some forms of ice or metal crystals, and in ...

or three- to five-lobed leaves.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q21370849 diversifolia Hybrid plants