BULBS 133 



shades that makes for indefiniteness of tone. A 

 third species, H. amethystinus, is a dainty alpine 

 hyacinth that ought to be better known. There is 

 now a white variety of it. 



The feathered, grape, musk and starch hyacinths 

 are not of the same genus ; they are muscari. One 

 of them, M . azureum, was formerly Hyacinthus 

 azureus. The deep blue grape hyacinth (M. 

 Botryoides) called bluebell in New England, is the 

 only familiar one here and even that is much more 

 of a stranger than it was years ago; as often as 

 not it is an "escape" in the grass. It is fine for 

 garden massing and so are the light blue and 

 "pearls of Spain" (white). The Trebizond 

 starch hyacinth Heavenly Blue has the gentian 

 color and is very lovely in the garden. The or- 

 dinary starch hyacinth (M. neglectum majus) and 

 the Caucasian starch hyacinth (M. paradoxum) are 

 blue-black. The fragrant musk hyacinth is M. 

 moschatum majus, the tassel hyacinth M. . comosum 

 and the plume or ostrich feather hyacinth M. 

 plumosum. The last has been developed into mauve 

 plumes of great size, worthless to the garden save 

 as curiosities. 



Old gardens knew a few kinds of narcissus. The 

 common ones were the yellow "daffy" (N. Tele- 

 monius plenus, or van Sion) , the orange and yel- 

 low "Butter and Eggs" (N. incomparabilis fl. pi.) , 

 the "jonquil" (N. alba plena odorata) and the 

 poet's narcissus (N. poeticus), all but the last 

 double. Only the first has begun to hold its own 



