Syringa josikaea Jacq.f. ex Reichenb. (Romania, Ukraine) – An exceptional escape from cultivation. Formerly introduced on wasteland in Berchem (Antwerpen). This location is now included in a nature reserve (Wolvenberg). Syringa josikaea persists very well there and, since 2008, it is slightly expanding, mostly as a result of suckering.
Syringa josikaea is a rare alien in Europe. It has been reported, for instance, from Scandinavia, as an ephemeral (Karlsson 1997). A more or less similar species, also from the Villosae Group (Hoffman 2002), Syringa komarowii C.K. Schneider, has also been reported as selfsowing in Germany (Böhling 2009).
In its native distribution area in the Carpathians Syringa josikaea is an endangered species (e.g. Lendvay & al. 2012, Macalik & al. 2013, Lendvay & Höhn 2014).
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Selected literature:
Böhling N. (2009) By the way: drei neue Pflanzenarten für Deutschland. Florist. Rundbriefe 42: 93-100. [available online at: http://www.flora-x.de/flor%20soz%20haeupler%20by%20the%20way%20.pdf]
Hoffman M.H.A. (2002) Syringa Villosae Groep – sortimentsonderzoek en keuringsrapport. Dendroflora 39: 104-119. [available online at: http://library.wur.nl/WebQuery/wurpubs/fulltext/248781]
Karlsson T. (1997) Förteckning över svenska kärlväxter. Svensk Bot. Tidskr. 91: 241-560.
Lendvay B. & Höhn M. (2014) Comment on Macalik et al. (2013) and an Update on the Status of Syringa Josikaea (Oleaceae) in the Apuseni Mountains, Romania. Stud. Univ. Babeş-Bolyai Biol. 59(1): 97-100. [available online at: http://www.studia.ubbcluj.ro/download/pdf/859.pdf]
Lendvay B., Kadereit J.W., Westberg E., Cornejo C., Pedryc A. & Höhn M. (2015) Phylogeography of Syringa josikaea (Oleaceae): Early Pleistocene divergence from East Asian relatives and survival in small populations in the Carpathians. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. doi: 10.1111/bij.12499.
Lendvay B., Kohut E. & Höhn M. (2012) Historical and recent distribution of Syringa josikaea Jacq. fil. ex Rchb., ecological and conservational evaluation of the remnant populations (in Hungarian). Kanitzia 19: 27-58. [available online at: http://ttk.nyme.hu/blgi/Knyvek%20kiadvnyok/Kanitzia/Kanitzia_19_2013.pdf]
Macalik K., Tamás R., Kolcsár L.-P. & Keresztes L. (2013) Present status of the Syringa josikaea Jacq. ex Rchb., an endemic species which contributes to the diversity of the flora of the Carpathians. Stud. Univ. Babeş-Bolyai Biol. 58(2): 31-40. [available online at: http://www.studia.ubbcluj.ro/download/pdf/821.pdf]