GlIAPE HYACINTH. 



OHN PARKINSON, her- 

 balist and gardener to their 

 dread Majesties James I. and 

 Charles I. — I))' the latter, 

 indeed, prnnouneed Botauicus 

 Regius Priniarius — hath, in 

 his immortal presentment o£ 

 "The Paradisus Terrestris " 

 (l6:^9), set forth for our 

 edification five distinct kinds 

 of grape-Hower. They are 

 severally the "darke blew,^^ 

 the " skie-coloured," the 

 "branched," the "white," 

 and the " blush/' These are 

 now grouped under two 

 species, whereof we have 

 one l)efore us, and the other 

 is the branched or stareh- 

 g-rape hyacinth [Mmcari 

 riicemosiiiii) , a re])uted British 

 plant, but undoubtedly, when 

 found wild, a. mere escape from a garden. Another of the 

 family, M. vomoHum, the feather hyacinth, was known to 



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