Lilac

Syringa vulgaris

First love, youthful innocence, the renewal of life, memory.

Did you know

The genus name 'Syringa' comes from the Greek 'syrinx' (pipe), because the hollow stems were once used to make reed pipes and panpipes.
Lilacs are members of the olive family — surprisingly closely related to ash trees and forsythia.
The world's largest lilac collection is at Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens in Washington, with hundreds of named cultivars.
Walt Whitman immortalized the lilac in his elegy 'When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd,' written after Lincoln's assassination.
Lilac flowers are edible and have a sweet, faintly bitter floral flavor — they're used in syrups, scones, and crystallized confections.