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HYACINTHUS OEIENTALIS, VAR. ANNA MARIA. 
HYACINTHUS ORIENTALIS, Vak. Anna Makia. 
I{at, Order, Liliaceje, 5 SciLLZiE. (Asphodeleje, Kunth.) 
Generic Character. — Hyacintlms. Calyx coroUaceous, 
campanxilate, iurtated at the base, open at the throat; limb 
six-parted, re^lar, deciduous ; lobes tongue-shaped or oblonj?, 
one-nerved, sub-equal, patent-recurved, longer than the tube. 
Stamens, six-equal, included ; filaments adherent to the tube of 
the calyx, free at the summit ; anthers two-celled, introrse, 
lineai'-oblong, obtuse, fixed at the back above the two-lobed 
base, level Tvith the throat. Ovari/ free, sessile, sub-globose, 
three-celled. Ovules eight in a cell, in two lines, horizontal, 
sessUe, anatropous. Stt/le short, three-grooved, erect. Stigma 
throe-sided, obtuse, simple. Capsule fleshy-spongy (membranous 
Undllcher), globosely three-lobed, three-celled, loculicidally 
three-valved. Seeds 2-5 in a cell, obUquely sub-globose, reti- 
cularly pitted, black, opaque, much thickened at the base. — 
{Kunth JUnumeratio.) 
Hyacinthtjs ORIENT.VLIS, Lmjiwifs. Corolla funnel-shaped, 
half six-toothed, inflated at the base ; bracts very short. 
{SchuHesfil.) 
Hijaclntkus orientalis : var. Anna Maria.— A double-flow- 
ered Dutch florists' variety, of first-rate excellence. — A. H. 
BESCRIPTION. — A handsome form of this Protean species, which is too well linowii to 
require that a detailed sj'stematic description should be added here. The spike is more 
than six inches long, and closely crowded, so that the flowers form a compact mass ; these are 
white with a sHght lacing of crimson on the inner petals, and are large and beautifully regular, 
in the fine specimen from which cm' figure is taken. The great tendency to metamorphosis of 
the parts of the flower, gives rise to the production of the double varieties of this species even 
in a state of natm'e, and in the present examjjle we have a most perfect instance of completeness 
and regularity of this change of all the floral organs into petaloid bodies. These double 
varieties are the more perfect in proportion as more of the reproductive organs are changed 
into petals, which condition, when complete, precludes the possibilitj^ of seed-bearing, while, as 
is well known, when seeds do occiu% there is no certainty of the reproduction of the j)articular 
form. Thus it is indisjDensably necessary to take measm:es to secui-e a healthy state of the 
bulb after the flowering period, when a variety is desired to be perpetuated. The variations of 
colour- are all accidental in this species, and are met with in the wild plant. — A. H. 
History, &c. — The Hyacinth is a native of the Levant, whence it was introduced into 
Holland, and so imjjroved by the Dutch Florists that they are said to have reared more than 
two thousand varieties of every imaginable shade of colour, single as well as double. It was 
cultivated in England as early as 1596, and it has been so great a favourite for many years 
as to have become a most important article of commerce. It may be truly said that there is no 
limit to the varieties, for even now that the taste of the public is so improved as to render in- 
ferior sorts of little or no value, there are himdreds of distinct recognised named kinds which 
are considered deserving a place in aU curious collections. The colour least perfectly developed 
is yellow, the nearest approach to which being scarcely deeper than a sulphur colour. 
Anna Maria, the variety represented in oui- plate, was raised in Holland, and may now be 
purchased in this country of every dealer in Dutch bulbs at a moderate price. It is a great 
favoiu'ite among florists, on account of the beauty of the plant, and the closeness of its truss of 
flowers, which although individually narrow-petalled and starry, as too many of them are, yet 
have these blemishes concealed by the reflexing of the points of the segments of the corolla. 
It has been chosen to represent one of the greatest excellences in a Hyacinth — namely, the 
size, compactness, and pyramidal outline of the truss of flowers. — G. G. 
THE CULTURE AND PROPERTIES OF THE HYACINTH. 
By Mr. GEORGE GLENNT, F.H.S. 
¥E need hardly say that the great supply of this very beautiful bulb is from Holland, and that, in 
a general way, they do not bloom so well the second year after importation as they do the first. 
This, however, has led to a conclusion, that they will not do so well in this country as in the great Dutch 
nursei'ies, or that there is something more favom-able in the soil and shmate of Holland than there is 
in that of this country — a conclusion perfectly erroneous. The Hyacinth, treated properly, in 
England, -will grow as finely, and bloom as strongly, after seven years' cultivation, as it will in the 
place it came from ; but nobody will take the pains. They require nm-sing until they are at maturity, 
when they will equal the Dutch roots ; and, after lia\dng flowered in perfection, they will degenerate, 
and split into ofisets, in the same way that imported roots do the second year. Seedlings raised in this 
country have bloomed as finely as any Dutch roots could have flowered ; and, although there was no- 
