Index / Search / Syringa vulgaris
§1 Plant
Syringa vulgaris L.
vernacular common lilac — species · Oleaceae
§2Habit & range
Habit and range
- Growth habit
- Shrub
- Duration
- Perennial
- Group
- Dicot
- Family
- Oleaceae Hoffmanns. & Link
- Genus
- Syringa
§2a
Native status, by region
- CAN Canada Introduced
- L48 Lower 48 States Introduced
§2b
County-level range
· 156 counties across 21 states/territories§3Cultivation specs · USDA
Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.
§3a
Tolerances
- Drought
- Medium
- Shade
- Medium
- Moisture use
- Medium
- Fire
- High
- Salinity
- Medium
- Anaerobic
- None
- CaCO₃
- High
- Hedging
- High
§3b
Climate & soil
- Cold tolerance
- -38 °F minimum
- Frost-free days
- 110 min.
- Precipitation
- 30–50 in/yr
- pH range
- 5.8–7.8
- Root depth
- 14 in min.
- Fertility need
- Medium
- Soil texture
- coarse, medium, fine
§3c
Form & growth
- Growth form
- Rhizomatous
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Mature height
- 20 ft
- Height @ 20 y
- 20 ft
- Foliage texture
- Medium
- Foliage colour
- Green
- Porosity (summer)
- Dense
- Porosity (winter)
- Moderate
- Flower colour
- Purple
- Fruit colour
- Brown
- Fire resistant
- No
- N fixation
- None
- Toxicity
- None
§3d
Reproduction
- Bloom period
- Late Spring
- Seed abundance
- Medium
- Seed begins
- Summer
- Seed ends
- Summer
- Spread rate
- Slow
- Stratify
- Yes
- Seeds / lb
- 90,720
- Propagation
- seed, bare root, container
§3e
Use & availability
- Commercial availability
- Routinely Available
- Nursery stock
- Yes
- Browse palatability
- Low
- Graze palatability
- Low
- Palatable, human
- No
- Protein potential
- Low
- Lumber
- No
- Christmas tree
- No
§4Counties, by state
Recorded in 156 counties across 21 states/territories.
District of Columbia view state ↗ 1 I ▾
Illinois view state ↗ 8 I ▾
Indiana view state ↗ 1 I ▾
Iowa view state ↗ 1 I ▾
Kentucky view state ↗ 4 I ▾
Massachusetts view state ↗ 12 I ▾
Michigan view state ↗ 26 I ▾
- Alcona 26001
- Alpena 26007
- Benzie 26019
- Berrien 26021
- Charlevoix 26029
- Cheboygan 26031
- Clinton 26037
- Crawford 26039
- Delta 26041
- Gratiot 26057
- Isabella 26073
- Kalamazoo 26077
- Keweenaw 26083
- Leelanau 26089
- Livingston 26093
- Luce 26095
- Mackinac 26097
- Macomb 26099
- Marquette 26103
- Ogemaw 26129
- Osceola 26133
- Ottawa 26139
- Presque Isle 26141
- Schoolcraft 26153
- Washtenaw 26161
- Wayne 26163
Minnesota view state ↗ 8 I ▾
Missouri view state ↗ 3 I ▾
New Hampshire view state ↗ 4 I ▾
New Jersey view state ↗ 5 I ▾
New York view state ↗ 11 I ▾
Ohio view state ↗ 12 I ▾
Pennsylvania view state ↗ 23 I ▾
- Adams 42001
- Allegheny 42003
- Bedford 42009
- Blair 42013
- Bucks 42017
- Cambria 42021
- Centre 42027
- Dauphin 42043
- Franklin 42055
- Huntingdon 42061
- Juniata 42067
- Lancaster 42071
- Lehigh 42077
- Luzerne 42079
- Lycoming 42081
- Montgomery 42091
- Northampton 42095
- Snyder 42109
- Somerset 42111
- Susquehanna 42115
- Warren 42123
- Westmoreland 42129
- York 42133
Rhode Island view state ↗ 2 I ▾
Tennessee view state ↗ 2 I ▾
Vermont view state ↗ 4 I ▾
Virginia view state ↗ 6 I ▾
West Virginia view state ↗ 1 I ▾
§5Sources & provenance
USDA PLANTS
Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.
plants.usda.gov/SYVU ↗GBIF Backbone
Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.
gbif.org/species/5415039 ↗Record version
Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:
usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26
fetched 2026-05-26T08:39:52Z