Deciduous shrub to 3 m or so tall. Leaves to about 14 cm long, ovate to lanceolate, bristle-hairy and slightly waxy below, especially on the midrib and veins. Flower clusters to 20 cm long, hairy. Flowers about 12 mm long, rosy lilac, anthers projecting from throat; early summer.
N China
S. ×prestoniae McKelv. is a cross, S. reflexa × S. villosa, originally made by Dr Isabella Preston of the Central Experimental Farm, Ottawa, Canada. This group is characterised by flowers with long, narrow flower tubes and a privet-like scent. S. 'Alice' has single flowers that are deep purple and was raised by Preston in 1941.
S. emodi Royle, Himalayan Lilac, from Afghanistan and the Himalaya, is occasionally sold; it has leaves that are hairless and waxy-blue below, with the unpleasant-smelling pale lilac flowers in more or less cylindrical clusters.
Source: (2002). Oleaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 4. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 3. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.