The scent of this mock orange fills the air at the eastern end of the South Walk.
A member of Hydrangeaceae, or the hydrangea family, the genus Philadelphus (mock orange) contains 40 species of deciduous shrubs. Members of the genus have four petals held either singly, or in racemes, panicles or cymes. P. coronarius is a native of southern Europe and south west Asia, where it grows in scrub and on rocky hillsides. It has racemes of five to nine single, cup-shaped, scented flowers. The leaves are ovate and arranged in opposite pairs, and the stems are covered in a rich brown, peeling bark. This is a widely grown species with an intense fragrance. It is known to have been cultivated in our gardens since the 16th century.