BULBS 133 
shades that makes for indefiniteness of tone. A 
third species, H. amethystinus, is a dainty alpine 
hyacinth that ought to be better known. There is 
now a white variety of it. 
The feathered, grape, musk and starch hyacinths 
are not of the same genus; they are muscari. One 
of them, M. azureum, was formerly Hyacinthus 
azureus. The deep blue grape hyacinth (M. 
Botryoides) called bluebell in New England, is the 
only familiar one here and even that is much more 
of a stranger than it was years ago; as often as 
not it is an “escape” in the grass. It is fine for 
garden massing and so are the light blue and 
“pearls of Spain” (white). The Trebizond 
starch hyacinth Heavenly Blue has the gentian 
color and is very lovely in the garden. The or- 
dinary starch hyacinth (M. neglectum majus) and 
the Caucasian starch hyacinth (M. paradoxum) are 
blue-black. The fragrant musk hyacinth is M. 
moschatum majus, the tassel hyacinth M. comosum 
and the plume or ostrich feather hyacinth M. 
plumosum. The last has been developed into mauve 
plumes of great size, worthless to the garden save 
as curiosities. 
Old gardens knew a few kinds of narcissus. ‘The 
common ones were the yellow ‘‘daffy” (N. Tele- 
monius plenus, or van Sion), the orange and yel- 
low “Butter and Eggs” (N. incomparabilis fl. pl.), 
the “jonquil” (N. alba plena odorata) and the 
poet’s narcissus (N. poeticus), all but the last 
double. Only the first has begun to hold its own 
