February 9,1882. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
105 
9th 
Tn 
Royal Society at 4.80 p.u. 
10th 
F 
Quekett Club at 8 p.m. 
11th 
S 
Royal Botanic Society at 3.45 P.M. 
12th 
SUN 
SEXAGESIMA. 
18 th 
M 
[11 A.M., Annual General Meeting at 3 p.m. 
14th 
Tu 
Royal Horticultural Society’s Fruit and Floral Committees at 
15th 
W 
Meteorological Society at 7 P.M. Society of Arts at 8 p.m. 
THE ROMAN HYACINTH. 
INCE the discussion that has appeared in our 
(jj - P a S es relative to the merits of the blue Roman 
Hyacinth, and especially since we asked for 
the origin of the plant under this name, we 
have received several letters from English 
__ correspondents, but as none of them supplied 
the information requested we have been indu ced 
LKjn to examine the subject, and to communicate 
thereon with some authorities on the continent. The 
following is the result of our investigations. 
What is called the Roman jacinth is not the Hyacinthus 
romanus of botanists, but a variety of Hyacinthus orientalis, 
which blooms in winter, and hence it was named by Gerarde 
and Parkinson, to whom it was well known, Hyacinthus orien¬ 
talis brumalis. The latter of these describes it so fully as to 
leave no doubt that the plant then cultivated is identical 
with that now grown in the present day. He says—“This 
e arly Iacinth riseth vp with his greene leaues (which are in 
all respects like to the ordinary Orientall Iacinths, but some¬ 
what narrower) before winter, and sometimes it is in flower 
also before winter, and is in form and colour a plaine white 
Orientall Iacinth, but somewhat lesser, differing onely in no 
other thing than the time of his flowring, which is alwayes 
certaine to be long before the other sorts." 
The Roman Hyacinth as now grown was not known to the 
gardeners of the last or even of the present century till within 
twenty years ago. Since then it has gradually risen in favour 
for its early forcing qualities and for the supply of cut blooms. 
At that time the quantity imported was small, and they were 
supplied by the great Paris house of Vilmorin, by whom they 
were grown in the south of France and on the Riviera, where 
the Hyacinthus orientalis is found indigenous. The question 
may therefore well be asked, If the Roman Hyacinth has been 
so recently brought to the knowledge of modern gardeners, 
how came it to be known to Parkinson and the early British 
botanists ? The answer is not a difficult one when we consider 
that so many of our introductions at that time were from the 
shores of the Mediterranean and eastern Europe, where our 
great trading communications lay. We have but to refer to 
the writings of Gerarde and Parkinson to be informed of the 
numbers of plants that were brought by trading ships from the 
Levant and the Mediterranean. John Tradescant, who was 
the friend of both, made voyages thence to collect plants as 
well as “ to fighte the pyrates,” and Parkinson never tires of 
acknowledging his indebtedness to him in such expressions as 
“ It was sent to me by my especial good friend Iohn Trades- 
cante, who brought it among other dainty plants from beyond 
the seas, and imparted thereof a roote to me." The Roman 
Hyacinth wa6 therefore most likely to attract the attention of 
a lover of plants exploring those regions, and to be brought 
home as a valuable addition to our gardens. 
The Roman Hyacinth as now cultivated is an early blooming 
variety of Hyacinthus orientalis, from which the Dutch Hya¬ 
cinths have also had their origin. But the Roman Hyacinth 
is nearer the normal form of the species, while the Dutch Hya¬ 
cinths have been so marvellously evolved out of the same by 
the industry and intelligence of the Dutch florists. There is 
also another race called Parisian Hyacinths, which retain the 
normal form of the species, and which are grown for their 
early blooming properties, but they bloom later than the Roman. 
A communication which we have received from M. Henry Vil- 
morin will throw some light on this subject. 
“ I consider the Roman Hyacinth a mere variety of Hyacinthus 
orientalis, very likely a seedling, very widely propagated on ac¬ 
count of its pure white colour, earliness, profuse flowering, and 
rapid increase. It is different both in habit and time of flowering 
from the Parisian Hyacinths. The one nearest to it amongst the 
latter is Jacinthe Blanc de Montagne, which is more slender, not 
so snow white, and slightly earlier when grown under similar con¬ 
ditions from bulbs of identical origin. But J. Blanc de Montagne 
from bulbs grown at Paris is not so early as J. romaine (Roman 
Hyacinth) from bulbs grown in the south. There are some points 
still rather obscure in our notions of the action of climate on the 
earliness of plants. I am positive, having tried it, that bulbs of 
the Roman Hyacinth from the south bloom before similar bulbs 
grown in the north of France. 
“ This pretty white Hyacinth, together with a pale blue one 
like it, but bigger and more slender, much less floriferous, and 
altogether practically worthless, has been grown in Italy and on 
the Riviera for a long time, hence I think the name of Roman 
Hyacinth, which is a French one, and which has been in use for a 
score of years at least, although the trade in bulbs of this plant 
with your country has not been very active till the last ten or 
twelve years. I think the white Roman Hyacinth is the best 
early white, provided its bulbs come from the south, where we in¬ 
variably grow them. Of blue and rose single kinds Parisians, in 
my opinion, are the best early and cheap kinds. 
“ I have not seen the plant grown in England as Blue Roman. 
If it be really the pale blue one grown on the Riviera, and espe¬ 
cially at Genoa, it is vastly inferior to Parisienne single blue. Its 
only merit is earliness, but the flowers are so small and dull that 
any Squill is as good, and Scilla siberica a good deal better.” 
M. Maurice Vilmorin has also obligingly sent us the follow¬ 
ing letter on the subject, in ignorance of what his brother had 
written above, and on that account not the less acceptable. 
“ Some forty or fifty years ago our firm were in the habit of 
buying a few hundreds of those bulbs, which were cultivated at 
that time in the neighbourhood of Marseilles. I am making in¬ 
quiries to trace the culture further back. Jordan has the Roman 
Hyacinth as a native plant in the south-east of France under the 
name of H. prsecox, but our best authorities here consider the 
plant as a variety of Hyacinthus orientalis. The same can be said 
of H. albulus, Jord ., or Blanc de Montagne, which is only a variety 
of H. orientalis. The Roman Hyacinth is found wild in the south¬ 
east of France and Italy. It may have been grown or sold first 
at Rome, and the name be so far justified. The flowers are, as a 
rule, pure white, but 1 think some plants have been found with a 
pinkish shade. Hyacinthus romanus, Linn., is not the Roman 
Hyacinth. It is the Bellevalia appendiculata, Lapeyr. (‘ Hort. 
Arb.,’ p. 186 ; figured also in the ‘Bot. Mag.,’ t. 939), a native 
plant of France, but more like a Muscari than a Hyacinth.” 
The question as to whether there is a blue Roman Hyacinth, 
which is exercising the minds of some gardeners doubtfully, 
is also answered by Parkinson when, speaking of “ the Purple 
Winter Orientall Iacinth," he says—“ The difference of colour 
in this flower causeth it to be distinguish?!, for else it is of the 
kindred of the Orientall Iacinths, and is, as the former, more 
early than the rest that follow : Vnderstand then that this is 
the same with the former, but hauing blewish purple flowers. 
No. 85 .— Yon. IYi Third Series. 
No. 1741. —Von. nxvn., olb Series. 
