Syringa amurensis Rupr. (Ligustrina amurensis Rupr. )

Amur tree lilac

Family - Oleaceae

It is easily recognized by the large, dense and branchy bunches of fruits reaching of up to 25 cm in length and 20 cm in diameter. The fruits are distinctive oblong leathery pods with two dehisced valves, 1.5 cm in length and 0.3-0.4 cm in width.

The bark is dark-grey or brown with well-marked white transversal lentils similar to Maximowicz's cherry (Cerasus maximowiczii) but distinguished from the latest by the presence of the opposite buds on the brownish-brown sprouts.

It is a tree of up to 10 m and, rarely up to 12-15 m height with a trunk diameter of 20-30 cm. Sometimes, it is a large shrub. It lives about 90-100 years.

It grows in the mixed valley forest and shrub brushwoods and occasionally by the rocky wooded slopes. Sometimes, it rises in mountains to 600 m above sea level.

It is valuable anti-erosive species.

Its wood is hard and workable. It is also called «rattle-wood» as damp wood burns with a loud cracking, scattering sparks and coals over some metres. It is used in planting of greenery.

Distribution in the Russia's Far East. Primorsky and Khabarovsky Krais, Amurskaya Oblast.

General distribution. China, Korean Peninsula.

Authors: Marina N. Chipizubova, Ludmila M. Pshennikova

Photo: Marina N. Chipizubova, Ludmila M. Pshennikova, N. Razzhigaeva

Collage by: Evgenia V. Bibchenko