Leaves from half an inch to an inch long, entire, smooth, 

 rough-edged, rather acute; the radical ones obovate, stalked; 

 stem-leaves opposite, much narrower; roots fibrous and pe- 

 rennial. If the least attention be paid, it flowers perpetually. 

 It has been transplanted to the European green-houses; but 

 with us it is so common and so abundant, that it is left in quiet 

 possession of its native fields, where it flourishes in unambi- 

 tious contentment. 



Its four-cleft petal forms a Maltese cross, and its yellow 

 anthers, also, form a cross in the centre, looking like a tiny 

 drop of gold set in pearls. 



How often, modest flower, 

 I mark thy tender blossoms, when they spread, 

 Along the turfy slope, their starry bed, 



Hung heavy with the shower. Pertival. 



Sweet flower, thou tell'st how hearts 

 As pure and tender as thy leaf, as low 

 And humble as thy stem, will surely know 



The joy that peace imparts. Same. 



The popular names of Houstonia, are Dwarf Pink, 

 Bluets, Innocence, and sometimes American Daisy, (al- 

 though it has none of the botanical characteristics of the Bel- 

 Us,) from its humble growth, its simple beauty, and general 

 diffusion over the United States, covering and adorning our 

 fields, as does the European Daisy in its own climate, and 

 like it, an endeared little flower, and universal favourite. 



HYACINTH. 



Hyacinthus. 



Hyacinthus, a name adopted from the ancient Greeks, 

 who applied it to the flower supposed to have sprung from 

 the blood of Hyacinthus, son of Amyclas, founder of the city 

 of Amyclffi. He was a favourite with both Apollo and Zephy- 

 rus, but his preference of the Sun to the Winds, excited the 

 jealousy of Zephyrus, who caused his destruction, by sending 

 a puff of wind to change the course of a quoit thrown by 

 Apollo, so as to fall upon the head of the young Hyacinthus 

 and deprive him of his life. 



He was afterwards changed by Apollo into a flower bear- 

 ing his name. 



You when alive, were Phoebus' darling boy; 



# * # * 



Yet this he gave; as oft as wintry rains 

 Are past, and vernal breezes soothe the plains, 

 From the green turf, a purple flow'r you rise, 

 And with your fragrant breath perfume the skies. 



***** 



Thy name my lyre shall sound, my verse shall tell; 

 And to a flow'r transform'd unheard of yet, 

 Stamp'd on thy leaves, my cries thou shall repeat. 

 The time shall come prophetic I foreknow, 

 When join'd to thee, a mighty chief* shall grow 

 And with my plaints his name my leaf shall show. 



Ajax. 



While Phoebus thus the laws of fate reveal'd, 

 Behold the blood which stain'd the verdant field, 

 Is blood no longer; but a flow'r full blown, 

 A lily's form it took ; its purple hue 

 Was all that made a difference to the view. 

 Nor stopp'd he here; the god upon its leaves, 

 The sad expression of his sorrow weaves; 

 And to this hour the mournful purple wears 

 Jli, Jli, inscrib'd in fun'ral characters. OzilVs Ovid. 



Another fabulous account of the flower, is, that it sprung 

 from the blood of Jljax Telamonius, who slew himself in a 

 rage, when the arms of Achilles were adjudged by the Greeks 

 to his rival, Ulysses. And it is described by Ovid, as a. pur- 

 ple flower in this instance, also. 



The fruitful blood produc'd a flower which grew 

 On a green stem, and of a purple hue: 

 Like his, whom unaware, Apollo slew: 

 Inscribed in both, the letters were the same, 

 But those express the grief, and these the name. 



[See Death of Jljax. 



As poets feign'd from Ajax streaming blood 

 Arose, with grief inscribed, a mournful flower. 



Young's Night Thoughts. 



tell in what delightful region springs 



The flow'r that bears inscrib'd the names of kings.* 



Virgil's Eclogues. 



Great differences have arisen amongst commentators 

 Concerning this plant of the ancients, which we cannot pre- 

 sume to settle, but there seems no paramount authority for 

 the application of the name in question to our common gar- 

 den Hyacinth. [See Rees* Encyclopedia. 



The garland of Flora tells us that the classical flower, 

 is a species of Martagon Lily, and decides it to be the red 

 JMartagon lily quoting Martyn, as observing " that most 

 Martagons are marked with many spots of a darker colour 

 than the flower itself; which often run together so as to form 

 the letters Jli as the ancient hyacinth is represented." 



1 have searched in vain for the origin of the word JWar- 

 tagon; all that I can find said of it, is, that Gerard, who 

 wrote in 1596, in speaking of a lily brought ''many dales 

 iourneis beyond Constantinople," which he calls Lilium Bi- 

 zantinum, " the red lilie of Constantinople," tells us, that he 

 had two other smaller kinds of lilies growing in his garden, 

 which, at that time, bore the name of J\Iartagon, which seems 

 to have been given to these kinds of lilies by Matthiolus. 



The Martagon, is elsewhere represented as a species of 

 lily red or yellow, with dark spots, or blotched. Flowers 

 pendulous, or hanging downwards. This agrees with the 

 Hyacinth, whose bell flowers of the form of the lily, and only 

 inferior in size, are suspended by a short peduncle, or flower 

 stalk. The Martagon lily has a disagreeable scent, but the 

 Hyacinth a delightful odour. 



* From Pitt's Virgil " of Kings The flower here meant is the 

 Hyacinth, which, as it is said to spring from the blood of Jljax, was 

 marked *4. I." 



