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KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



the progress of time exclusively appropriated. 

 The hyacinth was already in our gardens in 

 old Gerarde's time, and has continued ever 

 since to enjoy the highest favor, nor does 

 it seem exposed to much risk of being super- 

 seded, manjr as are the attractive novelties 

 which solicit our attention. In order to 

 trace it to its place in a general system, we 

 will first set aside from the rest of the Endo- 

 gens all the glumaceous plants, which have 

 alternate leafy bractes, instead of proper 

 flowers, and which are known as the grasses 

 and sedges. We may next separate all those 

 with the flowers attached to a peculiar organ, 

 termed a spadix ; the palm tribe, and the 

 endogenous water-plants. The rest may be 

 divided according as the calyx adheres upon 

 the seed-vessel so as to place it under the 

 flower, or is free so as to enclose the seed- 

 vessel within the flower, to which latter 

 division our plant belongs. Excluding suc- 

 cessively all the tripetaloid flowers in which 

 the appearance of the calyx is distinct from 

 that of the petals, all those with separate 

 carpels, and those whose flowers have the 

 green herbaceous character of the rushes, 

 we have only left the group which forms Dr. 

 Lindley's alliance of Liliales, which contains 

 four natural orders. One is characterised 

 by additional exterior circles of parts. 

 Another may be known by the anthers 

 opening outwards, or being turned from, 

 instead of towards, the centre of the flower. 

 Another, easily known by its habit, but 

 which we have not much opportunity of 

 bringing into comparison, is distinguished by 

 the fading pieces of the flower rolling them- 

 selves up something in the manner of a 

 young fern leaf, instead of lying flat, and the 

 albumen of the seed being mealy. Setting 

 these aside, the subject of our examination 

 is found to belong to the great order, Liliaceoe, 

 the lily tribe. Among the numerous sections 

 of this extensive order, some of which have 

 been, and probably may again be, raised to 

 the rank of orders, but whose true limits are 

 as yet very little understood, we easily fix 

 on the Scillece of Lindley as the immediate 

 connexions of Hyacinthus, and among these 

 the generic character is sufficient to guide us. 



Our wild hyacinth, which contributes so 

 much to the beauty of our woodland scenery 

 during the spring, may be regarded as a 

 transition species between Scilla and Hya- 

 cinthus : the form and drooping habit of its 

 flower connecting it with the latter, whilst 

 the six pieces that form the two outer circles 

 being separate to the base, gives it the tech- 

 nical character of the former. It is still 

 called by some Hyacinthus non-scriptus — 

 hyacinth without those marks «on the petals 

 which the fable represents as the lamentations 

 of Apollo. Since, however, the true hya- 

 cinth equally wants the inscription, this name 



is singularly inappropriate ; and since the 

 coherence of the parts of the flower is strictly 

 the distinctive peculiarity of the hyacinth 

 genus,Sir James E.Smith was right in referring 

 the wild plant to Scilla and calling it Scilla 

 nutans, to express the graceful bend of the 

 flower-stalk, which is one of its distinctions. 

 Mr. Babington adopts the genus Agraphis 

 for the intermediate species ; but this plan 

 of burdening science with new names for 

 mere transition species is very objectionable, 

 and it will hardly be pretended that Agraphis 

 is in itself a natural genus. While acknow- 

 ledging, then, that the English name, wild 

 hyacinth, is founded on a very close affinity, 

 we must decide in favor of Scilla as the 

 systematic name for this sweet and lovely 

 flower. 



The grape, or starch hyacinths, now form 

 the genus Muscari, distinguished by the six 

 pieces of the two exterior circles cohering 

 almost to their extremity into a globular or 

 cylindrical flower, contracted at the mouth, 

 with the points like teeth. The botanical 

 name of the hyacinth is Hyacinthus orientalis, 

 which applies equally to all the varieties of 

 color, size, and fullness. 



THE HAWTHORN, WHITETHORN, OR MAY. 



Hardly one of our native flowers is more 

 universally known and loved than the haw- 

 thorn. Its employment as the principal 

 living fence to our fields brings it within 

 everybody's view. The profusion of its gay 

 and fragrant flowers attracts every one's 

 attention ; and whilst in its blossoming 

 season it perfumes the vernal air, and 

 enlivens the May-day garland, its rosy buds 

 are amongst the first symptoms of reviving 

 nature ; and its berries look cheerful even 

 during the desolation of winter, supplying a 

 large portion of their food to those of the 

 feathered tribe who do not desert us during 

 the dreary season. Allowed to reach its 

 full size as a tree, the hawthorn richly adorns 

 many of our old parks, and many a dell and 

 hollow in our southern downs, where its 

 gnarled stem and wide spread branches add 

 to its effect; and the abundance and sweet- 

 ness of its flowers, collected together in such 

 masses, and seeming to cover the whole tree, 

 make it an object that cannot be contem- 

 plated without admiration. The double and 

 pink varieties are introduced into our 

 shrubberies, where they are universal 

 favorites ; and, altogether, it would be 

 difficult to name the floral object which has 

 collected round it a greater number of 

 pleasing associations, or which belongs more 

 completely to our English life, than the haw- 

 thorn. 



We will endeavor to give a correct idea of 

 its structure, and to explain its affinities, so 

 as to create fresh interest in observing and 



