34 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



mallow, from the brothers Lavater, Swiss physicians ; Hutchinsia from 

 Miss Hutchins, a zealous Irish botanist ; Teesdalia from Eobert Teesdale, 

 a Yorkshire botanist. 



Other names thus preserved to us in flowers are those of classical 

 heroes. The hyacinth, the " lettered hyacinth," the Hyacinthus orientalis 

 of our borders, commemorates the fate of the Greek youth Hyacinthus. 

 While playing at quoits with Apollo the jealousy of the god Zephyrus 

 caused a quoit to strike him on the head and kill him on the spot. From 

 his blood sprang up the flower with the word " aiai," that is, woe, written 

 on its petals. So Keats writes : 



0 for Hermes' wand 

 To touch this flower into human shape ! 

 That woodland Hyacinthus could escape 

 From his green prison. 



The word "hyacinth " has been applied to a number of flowers which 

 are not botanically of the genus Hyacinthus. Even our common wild 

 hyacinth of the woods is not a true hyacinth, although Linnaeus named it 

 Hyacmthus no7i-scriptus, the not-written hyacinth. It is now classed as 

 a Scilla, and named by botanists Scilla nutans. The grape- hyacinths, 

 again, are of the genus Muscari. The Peruvian hyacinth and the lily- 

 hyacinth are both Scillas. 



The Missouri hyacinth is a Hesjperocordiim, and the Tasmanian 

 hyacinth a Thelymitra ; while the mid hyacinth of America is the 

 pretty blue Camassia esculenta often grown in our borders, called by the 

 Indians "biscuit-root," and used by them as we use onions. 



But there is considerable doubt whether even the Hyacinthus orientalis 

 of our borders is the genuine hyacinth, the flower which classical writers 

 tell us sprang up from the blood of Hyacinthus. There is considerable 

 reason, in fact, for believing that the flower celebrated by Virgil, Ovid, and 

 others as the hyacinth was really the Martagon lily, Lilium Martagon. 

 This flower, which has become naturalised in parts of Surrey, has pale- 

 purple flowers with dark raised papillae which may have suggested the 

 letters "aiai." 



Another mythical personage commemorated in a flower is Narcissus, 

 the beautiful youth who fell in love with his own image. He pined away, 

 and was metamorphosed into the flower. This, at any rate, was the view at 

 the time of Ovid, though there is some reason to suppose that in earlier 

 times Narcissus was the word used for what was later called the hyacinth, 

 and was probably our Martagon lily. 



Circe, the enchantress of the " Odyssey," is recalled in CirccBa, the 

 enchanter's nightshade, and Hercules in Heracleum, the cow parsnip ; 

 while Euonymm, the spindle tree, is named after the mother of the 

 Furies. 



Chiron, the Greek physician surnamed the Centaur, seems to have 

 given his name to the knapweeds, botanically Centaurea. Achillea 

 Ptarmica, again, the sneezewort, has received its name from Achilles, the 

 hero of the " Iliad." Achilles was a pupil of Chiron, who first pointed out 

 the virtues of the herb. It was probably then used in the treatment of 

 wounds : it was powdered and used as snuff in more modern times. 

 Hence its common name, "sneezewort." 



