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Glite Dictionary
Syringa villosa

Syringa villosa

9.5
A shrub from northern China with oval leaves and many pink-lilac fragrant flowers in early summer
  • noun
  • Specialized
translation icon : lila japonesa
  • Gardeners prize Syringa villosa for its hardy nature and beautiful early summer blooms.

Examples

  • The Syringa villosa blooms beautifully in early summer.

  • The botanical garden planted a row of Syringa villosa along the main pathway.

  • In spring, the Syringa villosa fills the air with a sweet fragrance.

  • I saw a stunning Syringa villosa at the botanical garden.

  • Gardeners prize Syringa villosa for its hardy nature and beautiful early summer blooms.

  • The botanical garden planted a row of Syringa villosa along the main pathway.

  • In spring, the Syringa villosa fills the air with a sweet fragrance.

Synonyms

Japanese lilac
vsSyringa villosa
6.1

A tree with oval leaves and many pale pink flowers in early summer

is the scientific name for the same species rather than a common label

Surface Forms

Syringa villosa singular
Syringa villosas plural

Morphology

Syringa + villosa

This is a Linnaean binomial combining the genus name 'Syringa' (a lilac) with a specific epithet; if a learner knows both constituents and the convention of scientific names (or that 'villosa' means 'hairy'), they can infer it denotes a particular kind of Syringa. However, the epithet is Latin and not part of everyday B1 vocabulary, and detailed information in the definition (native range, leaf shape, flower colour) cannot be derived from the words alone, so comprehension is only partial.

Etymology

Syringa villosa may come from old words that describe how the plant looks: Syringa comes from a Greek word for a 'pipe' because people used hollow stems to make pipes, and villosa means 'hairy' in Latin for the soft, fuzzy leaves, so the name points to a lilac with hollow stems and hairy leaves.