HYACIN'THUS ORIENTA'LIS. 
ORIENTAL HYACINTH. 
Waterloo variety. 
Class. Order. 
tlEXANDRIA. MONOCYNIA. 
Natural Order. 
» ASPHODELEiE. 
Native of 
Ileiglit. 
Flowers in 
Duration. 
Introduced 
Levant. 
9 inches. 
Mar. Apr. 
Perennial. 
in 1759. 
No. 367. 
The name of this genus originated with the fabu- 
lists of antiquity. It was pretended that Hyacinth 
was the son of a Spartan King, and the favourite of 
Apollo. Zephyrus, being envious of the attach- 
ment of Apollo and Hyacinth, so turned the direc- 
tion of a quoit which Apollo had pitched, whilst at 
play, that it struck the head of Hyacinth, and slew 
him. The fable concludes, by making Apollo 
transform the body of his favourite into the flower 
which bears his name. Orientalis, oriental, it be- 
ing a native of the East. 
The Oriental Hyacinth degenerates in the mixed 
parterre, under common culture; therefore when 
compared with the splendid flowers of such as have 
been newly imported from the careful Dutch florists, 
it fails to please its possessor. It is the pampered 
nursling of Holland, consequently should not be 
expected to display its greatest beauty under negli- 
gent treatment in England. 
The flower of the Hyacinth, produced in the 
spring, is principally dependant for its strength on 
the management of the preceding season; there- 
fore, in the first year that Dutch bulbs blossom in 
