A Study of the Hyacinth* 



Anna Botsford Comstock 



The hyacinth has been famous from the times of antiquity, 

 and played its part in Greek mythology. It was introduced into 

 Northern Europe early in the sixteenth century. Rarely does a 

 species of plant show such a wide range in the colors of its flowers — 

 white, pirik, purple, lilac, and pale yellow are common varieties — 

 and each plant is a complete bouquet. Holland produces hyacinth 

 bulbs for the world. 



When the hyacinth first appears above ground its leaves are all 

 drawn together at the tips, making a pointed peg to push up 

 through the soil. Later the fleshy leaves spread out in star- 

 shape and reveal at their center an oblong bunch of green buds 

 packed so closely together that they look like a small pea-green 

 pineapple. If we look closely at the flower buds we find that 

 each bud is shaped to fit exactly its neighboring buds like a piece 

 of mosaic. Each bud is covered with three green sepals that 

 close tightly about its outside. 



We might naturally suppose that those buds that first appear 

 at the tip of the flower stalk would be the ones first to blossom. 

 Not so ! Those at the base are the first to open, and their first 

 sign of bloom is the change in color of the green sepals. At first 

 their bases take on the hue of the hyacinth variety, and this color, 

 be it blue, purple, pink or yellow, creeps upward toward the sepal 

 tips until, when the flower is ready to open there is scarcely any 

 of the green left upon them. This gradual change of color shoiild 

 be one of the interesting points of observations on the part of the 

 children. We could not, through dyes, change green to lilac, 

 or pink or yellow to white. But the hyacinth does it to perfec- 

 tion. These once green sepals, however, always retain their 

 thickened, close-fisted tips, showing where they once "held hands" 

 above the bud. 



When the flower is open we can see that it is set upon a short 

 stem which has a little bract below it where it joins the central 

 fleshy stem. There are now six lobes to the flower bell, and we 

 can tell by the thickened tips which of these six lobes acted as 



*This study is taken from one of the leaflets of the Home Nature Study- 

 Courses given by Mrs. Comstock in 191 1 at Cornell University. The original 

 leaflets are now out of print. 



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