THE HYACINTH. 



Agraphis nutans. Nat. Ord., Liliacece. 

 'HE present plant, though as charac- 

 teristic a spring flower as the snow- 

 drop, the primrose, or any other of 

 the well-known and welcome har- 

 ' N bingers of the coming floral year, 

 differs widely from them in one 

 respect, that, if not of botanical 

 significance, is sufficiently marked 

 to be very noticeable by any careful 

 observer we refer to its colour. 

 Various theories, more or less 

 satisfactory, have been raised to 

 account for the fact, though into 

 these we cannot here go, that almost 

 all our spring flowers are, as com- 

 pared with the flowers of summer and 

 autumn, very pale in colour, white 

 and yellow being the prevailing tints. 

 The stitch wort, the arum or cuckoo- 

 pint, a plant figured on a preceding 

 plate, the primrose, the hawthorn, and the lady's-smock 

 are but a few examples that will be noticed in our 

 illustrations, though sufficient possibly to bring out the 

 point in question. The flowers of the summer incline to 

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