190 FLORA DOMESTICA. 



called Tassel-Hyacinth. " The whole stalk," says Parkin- 

 son, " with the flowers upon it, doth somewhat resemble 

 a long purse-tassel, and thereupon divers gentlewomen have 

 so named it." French, Jacinihe a toupet [Tufted Hya- 

 cinth] ; le vacinet de pres [meadow myrtle] ; in Lorraine, 

 ail de loup [wolf's garlic] ; in Anjou, ail de chien [dog's 

 garlic] ; poireau bdtard [bastard leek] ; atRochelle/oJgveow 

 sauvage [wild onion] ; herbe du serpent [snake wort] ; in 

 Provence, lou congnou [wolf's onion]. Italian, cipolle 

 canine [dog onion]. 



But so many beautiful varieties have been raised from 

 seed by attentive culture of the Eastern Hyacinth, that all 

 the other species are comparatively neglected. The 

 Eastern, or Garden Hyacinth, is a native of the Levant : it 

 grows in abundance about Aleppo and Bagdad, where it 

 flowers in February. With us, when not forced, it usually 

 flowers in March or April. In Russia it has been found 

 with yellow flowers. Culture has produced very large 

 and double varieties of this Hyacinth. It is very sweet- 

 scented, and much valued for the variety of its colours, 

 which makes a number of them together appear very 

 magnificent. 



Mr. Miller says that we had formerly no other varieties 

 of this Hyacinth in the English gardens than the single 

 and double white, and blue : from the seeds of these, a 

 few others were raised in England, and also by the Flemish 

 gardeners, who came over annually with their flower-roots 

 to vend in England : but the gardeners in Holland, within 

 the last fifty years before his time, raised so many fine 

 varieties, as to render the former of little or no value. 

 Long after the Hyacinth had attracted the attention of 

 florists, the double flowers seefti to have been held in little 

 esteem. 



Peter Foorlem, of Haarlem, a rioted cultivator of Hya- 



