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The Western Australian Herbarium’s collections management system, WAHerb, and DBCA’s flora taxonomic names application, WACensus, have been set to read-only mode since 1 October 2025. Recent taxonomic changes are not currently being reflected in Florabase, herbarium collections, or the census. Due to the rapidly approaching holiday season and associated agency and facility soft closures, along with the substantial work involved in data mapping, cleaning, and verification, the migration to the new collection management software is not expected to occur before 1 March 2026, when a further update will be provided. Please reach out to us if you have any questions or concerns.

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Syringa L.

Reference
Sp.Pl. [Linnaeus] 1:9 (1753)
Name Status
Current

Scientific Description

Family Oleaceae.

Habit and leaf form. Shrubs; deciduous. Leaves opposite; petiolate to subsessile; simple. Leaf blades dorsiventral; dissected, or entire; ovate; when dissected, pinnatifid; pinnately veined; cross-venulate. Leaves without stipules. Leaf blade margins entire, or serrate, or dentate. Vegetative buds scaly. Leaves without a persistent basal meristem. Domatia recorded, or not recorded. Leaf anatomy. Hairs present; complex hairs present. Complex hairs peltate. Stem anatomy. Nodes unilacunar. Secondary thickening developing from a conventional cambial ring.

Reproductive type, pollination. Fertile flowers hermaphrodite. Unisexual flowers absent. Plants hermaphrodite.

Inflorescence and flower features. Flowers solitary, or aggregated in ‘inflorescences’; in panicles. The terminal inflorescence unit (when flowers aggregated) cymose. Inflorescences terminal, or axillary. Flowers bracteate, or ebracteate; fragrant; regular; 4 merous; tetracyclic. Free hypanthium absent. Hypogynous disk present (around the gynoecium), or absent; extrastaminal. Perianth with distinct calyx and corolla; 8; 2 -whorled; isomerous. Calyx present; 4; 1 -whorled; gamosepalous; sub- entire, or lobed; valvate; regular; persistent. Corolla present; 4; 1 -whorled; gamopetalous (funnel- to salver-shaped). Corolla lobes markedly shorter than the tube. Corolla valvate; regular; white, or purple, or red. Androecial members definite in number. Androecium 2. Androecial sequence not determinable. Androecial members adnate (to the corolla); free of one another; 1 -whorled. Androecium exclusively of fertile stamens. Stamens 2; becoming exserted, or remaining included; reduced in number relative to the adjacent perianth; oppositisepalous; all alternating with the corolla members; filantherous, or with sessile anthers. Anthers dorsifixed, or basifixed; dehiscing via longitudinal slits; introrse. Gynoecium 2 carpelled. The pistil 2 celled. Carpels reduced in number relative to the perianth. Gynoecium syncarpous; synovarious to eu-syncarpous; superior. Ovary plurilocular; 2 locular. Gynoecium median, or oblique, or transverse; stylate. Styles 1; apical. Stigmas 2 - lobed; dry type; papillate, or non-papillate; Group II type. Placentation axile. Ovules (1–)2(–50) per locule; pendulous, or ascending; with dorsal raphe; collateral; non-arillate; anatropous, or amphitropous.

Fruit and seed features. Fruit non-fleshy; dehiscent; a capsule. Capsules loculicidal. Fruit 1–4 seeded. Seeds endospermic, or non-endospermic. Endosperm oily. Seeds winged. Embryo rudimentary at the time of seed release, or weakly differentiated to well differentiated. Cotyledons 2. Embryo achlorophyllous; straight. Seedling. Germination phanerocotylar, or cryptocotylar.

Geography, cytology, number of species. Adventive.