LILY FAMILY 



HYACINTH 



Hyacinthus orientctUs. 



A perennial, bulbous plant, cultivated from ancient times; native to 

 Greece, Balkan peninsula, Asia Minor, and Syria. Extensively grown 

 in Holland for export and consequently known as the Dutch Hyacinth. 



Bulb. — Producing many long, fibrous roots. 



Leaves. — Erect, radical, eight to twelve inches long. 



Flowers. — Borne on a stout scape, in a dense raceme four to six 

 inches long. 



Perianth. — A bell-shaped tube, swollen at the base, with six recurved 

 segments. 



Stamens. — Six, inserted on the tube of the perianth; anthers pale 

 yellow; pollen abundant. Often double in cultivation; color range 

 includes blue, red, purple, lilac, yellow, and white. 



And the Hyacinth purple and white and blue, 

 Which flung from its bells a sweet peal anew 

 Of music so delicate, soft, and intense, 

 It was felt like an odor within the sense. 



— Shelley. 



The garden race of Hyacinths are at base Hyacinthus orientalis, 

 a species native to western Asia and possibly south-eastern Europe. 

 It is evident that the plant has been cultivated in the East from 

 very ancient times; for it came into western Europe highly de- 

 veloped, early in the sixteenth century. It was then a plant of 

 both single and double varieties with blue, purple, and white 

 flowers. The other colors have arisen either as sports or from 

 seedlings. The story goes that the first lilac variety appeared 

 as a sport from a red-flowered bulb in the possession of a Dutch 

 grower. He was so solicitous lest some misfortune should over- 

 take his precious plant that he put the pot containing it into a 

 bird-cage and hung it from the ceiling of his room. He was suc- 

 cessful in its propagation and that bulb is regarded as the parent 

 of the present lilac forms. To get some idea of the extent of 

 the early culture of Hyacinths in Holland, one may note that the 

 Gardener's Dictionary, by Philip Miller, published in 1725, 



40 



