H Y A 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



H Y A 



717 



the essential character of the genus, are not discoverable in 

 this species: this has led Dr. Withering to wish the plant 

 had been arranged under the genus Scilla; in which Dr. 

 Stokes concurs, thinking it has more of the habit and even 

 structure of Scilla than of Hyacinthus. The drooping of the 

 flowers distinguishes it from Scilla Campanulata, a plant 

 often found in our gardens, flowering at the same time. The 

 fresh root is poisonous, but may be converted into starch. 

 Gerarde says, that they are full of a slimy glueish juice, 

 which serves to set feathers upon arrows instead of glue, and 

 to paste books with, and that they make the best starch next 

 to Wake-robin roots. Hill informs us also, that the root 

 is full of a slimy juice, and that a decoction of it operates 

 by urine. Dried and reduced to powder, it is of a balsamic 

 and somewhat styptic nature. The virtues of it are Httle 

 known, but there are few of the remedies employed for the 

 cure of that weakening complaint, the Whites, equal to this ; 

 the dose, however, ought not to exceed three grains. Our 

 old botanists name this plant Anglicus, and English Hyacinth, 

 from its extreme commonness in many parts of our island. 

 Gerarde calls it Blue Harebells, or English Jacinth ; and it is 

 the "azur'd Harebell" mentioned in Siiakspeare's Cymbeline. 

 The French call it, Jacinte des Bois ; and the Germans, 

 Niederlandische, or Englische Hyacinthe. It adorns our 

 Woods, coppices, and hedge-rows, with its flowers in the 

 spring-months, and is very common with the blue flowers : 

 carnation and white flowers are not so common. Gerarde 

 found them near Colchester in Essex ; at Southfleet, near 

 Gravesend ; and in the neighbourhood of Canterbury, in 

 Kent ; at Bath, in Somersetshire ; and Warrington, in Lanca- 

 shire. Ray observed the white flowers at Scadbury park in 

 Kent, and Dr. Stokes near Worcester. It is also found in 

 the enclosures about Streatham and other places in Surrey : 

 it is seldom admitted into gardens. Mr. Curtis remarks, that 

 the seeds are not ripened till the end of the year; and that 

 on being sown, they did not rise till the second year. Na- 

 tive of France, Flanders, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, and Per- 

 sia. See the thiro species. 



2. Hyacinthus Cernuus; Bending Hyacinth. Corollas 

 bell-shaped, swelling at the base, six-parted ; raceme droop- 

 ing. This resembles the preceding, but is smaller ; the raceme 

 is more nodding; the corollas flesh-coloured, not blue. The 

 corolla swells out at the base, which is by no means the case in 

 the first species. Miller, Ray, and Caspar Bauhin, however, 

 thought it a variety, differing principally in having the flowers 

 of a blush peach-colour. That which Mr. Miller absurdly 

 calls Hyacinthus Utrinque Floribus, does indeed seem to be a 

 variety of this species. It has blue flowers disposed on every 

 side of the stalk, which rises about nine inches high ; the thyrse 

 of flowers is large when the roots are strong. He adds, that, 

 it is a native of Spain and Italy, and was formerly preserved 

 in gardens, but having been neglected for the fine varieties of 

 the Eastern Hyacinths, is now become scarce. This is the 

 case with many of our old favourites, which are cast out, to 

 make room for new comers. It is seldom cultivated in gar- 

 dens. Native of Spain. See the next species. 



3. Hyacinthus Serotinus ; Late-flowering Hyacinth. Outer 

 petals almost distinct, inner co-adunate; bulb ovate-conical, 

 solid, covered with brown skins ; scape single, a foot high, 

 smooth ; leaves channelled, sheathing the scape at the base ; 

 flowers in a raceme all pointing the same way, drooping a little, 

 each on a short peduncle, with an awl-shaped bracte at the 

 base ; corolla of a dull greenish red colour. When the flowers 

 first appear, of a light, but, according to Miller, fading to a 

 worn-out purple colour. Gerarde describes them as of a 

 very dusky colour, as it wsre mixed with purple, yellow, and 



VOL. i. 60. 



green ; without any smell. Parkinson, who calls it Spanish 

 Dun-coloured Jacinth, says it is of a purplish colour, with some 

 white and green as it were mixed among it. Ray observes, 

 that the plants which he raised from seed of the same root, 

 varied in the colour of their flowers, some being dusky, and 

 others almost green. It flowers in June, later than the other 

 Hyacinths, and hence Clusius called it Serotinus. Native of 

 Spain, near Aranjuez; and of Barbary, in the neighbourhood 

 of Fez and Morocco. This, as well as the first, second, and 

 fifth species, are seldom admitted into gardens, having been 

 almost totally neglected since the introduction of the Eastern, 

 Hyacinths. Those, however, who wish to preserve them, 

 may effect it without much trouble, for their roots propa- 

 gate plentifully in any soil or situation, and only require to 

 be taken up every second or third year soon after the leaves 

 decay, and to replant them in the following autumn ; for if 

 permitted to remain longer in the ground, their roots will 

 multiply to such a degree as to render their flowers very 

 small and weak. They may all be increased, either by seeds 

 or offsets, from the old bulbs, but it is only practised in these 

 four species. 



4. Hyacinthus Viridis. The outermost segments of the 

 corollas awl-shaped and very long. This is of the same 

 stature with the next species, but the corolla is green. 

 Native of the Cape of Good Hope. 



5. Hyacinthus Amethystinus ; Amethyst-coloured Hyacinth. 

 Corollas bell-shaped, half six-cleft, cylindrical at the base. 

 This has a smaller flower ; the petals are cut half their length, 

 and are reflex at the brim ; the lower part is cylindrical, a 

 little swelling at the base, and of a deeper blue. The root, 

 according to Clusius, is the size of a small olive, covered 

 with a brown skin ; leaves five or six, longer and narrower 

 than in the first sort, striated and keeled, lying mostly on 

 the ground ; scape slender, a long span in height, round, 

 smooth, glaucous, having six or seven flowers at top, (accord- 

 ing to Ray, sometimes twelve or more,) nodding, on pedicels 

 half an inch in length ; they are of a bright blue, without 

 any scent. Most of them, says Parkinson, have white stripes 

 and edges, and they vary to pure white, and a fine decayed 

 pale red colour, with deeper-coloured veins running along 

 the three outer segments. Mr. Miller says, it was formerly 

 called Coventry Blue Hyacinth by the gardeners. Native of 

 Spain, Italy, and Russia, flowering in May. 



6. Hyacinthus Revolntus ; Wave-leaved Hyacinth. Co- 

 rollas bell-shaped, six-parted, revolute ; leaves oblong, waved. 

 Native of the Cape of Good Hope. 



7. Hyacinthus Orientals; Garden Hyacinth. Corollas 

 funnel-form, half six-cleft, swelling at the base, with two 

 small bractes under each pedicel. It has a large coated 

 bulb, viscid, and of a sweetish taste, from the bottom of 

 which spring the roots, which are long round fibres, of a 

 middling thickness ; from the middle of it rises a single naked 

 stem or scape, and from the top six, seven, or more leaves, 

 which are broadish, keeled, pale green at bottom, but ef a 

 darker green towards the end. From the middle of the 

 scape, to the top, come out the flowers, one above another, 

 not pointing the same way, as in the Harebell, but stand- 

 ing on different sides of the stalk, three, four, five, and up 

 to twelve in number, each nodding on pedicels half an inch 

 in length, usually of a very dark green colour, and having a 

 pair of small bractes at the base ; the corolla is near an inch in 

 length, almost cylindrical, except at the base, where it swells, 

 or bellies out, and at the top the segments are -turned back a 

 little. These flowers have a very sweet smell, and are much 

 valued for the variety of their colours ; pure white, white tinged 

 with blue, all shades of blue even to the dark violet, and all 



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