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NAT. ORDER. 



Liliacece. 



HYACINTHUS ORIENTALIS. COMMON HYACINTH. 



Class Vr. Hexandria. Ordey- 1. Monogynia. ' 



Gen. Char. Perianth, tubular, six-cleft. Segments, reflexed. Sfa- 

 mens, six, inserted in the middle of the tube. Style, awl-shap- 

 ed. Stigma, obtuse. Capsule, ovately-trigonal, three-celled. 

 Seeds, many, roundish. 



i^K. Char. Perianth, funnel-shaped, half-cleft. Segments, spread- 

 ing. Ticbe, venticose at the base. 



The root is large, viscid, and bulbous ; the scape or stem risti 

 immediately from this biUb, bearing from six to ten leaves, which arc 

 broadish, keeled, pale-green at the bottom, but much darker near the 

 ends ; the scajje is from six to ten inches in height, smooth, roundish, 

 pale-green below, but tinged with brown towards the top; tiie 

 Jloioers are placed near the top, standing one above another, on dif- 

 ferent sides, and each nodding on pedicels, about half an inch iu 

 length, usually of a very dark-green color, and having a pair of brae- 

 tes at the base ; the corolla is nearly an inch in length, almost cylin- 

 drical except at the base, where it swells ; i\\&Jlowers have a very 

 sWeetish smeU, and are much valued for the variety of their colors. 



The hyacinth is probably known to every lover of flowers ; but 

 many who are unacquainted with its history will be surprised to 

 hear that there are only three species in the genus, and that two of 

 these are rarely seen. The fact is, that all the almost innumeral)le 

 kinds of hyacinths common in our gardens are varieties of one spe- 



187. 



