m 
HYACINTH U S. 
vals, nor eat bread, but fed only upon fweetmeats. They 
did not even fing pseans in honour of Apollo, or obfefve 
any of the folemnities which were ufual at other facri- 
fices. On the fecond day of the feftival there were a num. 
ber of different exhibitions. Youths, with their garments 
gift about them,' entertained the fpeftators, by playino- 
font times upon the flute, or upon the harp, and by fing- 
mg anapeftic fongs, in loud echoing voices, in honour of 
Apollo. Others paffed acrofs the theatre mounted upon 
borfes richly adorned ; and, at the fame time, choirs of 
young men came upon the ftage, finging their uncouth 
I'ufti'c fongs, and accompanied by perfons who danced 
the found of vocal and inftrumental raulic, according to 
the ancient cultom. Some virgins were aifo introduced 
in chariots of wood, covered at the top, and magnifi¬ 
cently adorned. -Others appeared in race-chariots. The 
city began then to be filled with joy, and immenfe num¬ 
bers of victims were offered on the altars of Apollo, and 
the votaries liberally entertained their friends and (laves. 
During this latter part of the feftivity, ail were eager to 
be prefent at the games, and the city was almoft delolate, 
and without inhabitants. Athcn. 
LIYACIN'THINE, adj. Made of hya¬ 
cinths ; refembling hyacinths. 
HYACIN'THO AFFl'NIS, f in botany. See Aga- 
paNthus and Hte’manthus. 
HYACIN'THUS, a fon of Amyclas and Diomede, 
greatly beloved by Apollo and Zephyrus. He returned 
the former’s love, and Zephyrus, incenfed at his coldnefs 
and indifference, refolved to punilh his rival. As Apol¬ 
lo, who w'as entrusted with the education of Hyacinthus, 
once played at quoit with his pupil, Zephyrus blew the 
quoit, as foon as it was thrown by Apollo, upon the head 
of Hyacinthus, and he tyas killed with the blow. Apollo 
w'as fo difconfolate at the death of Hyacinthus, that he 
changed his blood into a flower, which bore his name, 
and placed his body among the conftellations. The Spar¬ 
tans alfo effablifhed yearly feltivals to his memory, called 
Hyacinthia, as noticed above. 
HYACIN'THUS, f. [fabled to have fprung from the 
,blood of Hyacinthus, when he w'as accidentally (lain by 
Apollo with a quoit. Derived by fome from i«, violet, 
and Cynthius, one of the names of Apollo : if fo, it thould 
be written Hiacintkus.] In botany, the Hyacinth ; a 
genus’of the clafs hexandria, order monogynia, natural 
order of lilia, or liliaceae, (coronariae, Linn, afphodeli, 
JuJf.) The generic characters are—Calyx : none. Co¬ 
rolla : monopetalous, campanulate; border fix-cleft, re¬ 
flex. Neftary, three honeyed pores at the tip of the germ. 
Stamina: filaments fix, awl-fliaped, (hotter ; antherae con¬ 
verging. Piftillum: germ fuperior, round, three-cornered, 
three-furrowed ; ffyle Ample, fhorter than the corolla ; 
ftigma obtufe. Pericarpium : caplule roundifh, three- 
fide 3 , three-celled, three-valved. Seeds: in pairs (gene¬ 
rally) roundiih.— EJfential CharaEler. Corolla bell-fliaped, 
■with three honeyed pores by the germ. 
Species, i. Hyacinthus non lcriptus, common hya¬ 
cinth, or harebells : corollas tubular, bell-(haped ; (ix- 
parted, fegments rolled back, bra&es in pairs. Root a 
roundiih bulb, the fize of a nutmeg. Scape from fix 
Inches to a foot in height, upright, round, fmooth, and 
folid, bowed down when it begins to flower. Leaves 
four, fix, or fometimes more, only half the length of the 
fcape, and about half an inch broad, keeled, hollow', 
fmooth, fliining, grafs-green, flaccid, bending downwards, 
ending in an acute point. Flowers in a long raceme or 
fpike, from eight to twelve, often more, all pointing one 
way, pedicelled, pendulous, fweet-ftnelling, of a blue or 
violet colour, varying to white and flelh-coloured, fix- 
parted to the very. bale. BraCles two to each flower, lan¬ 
ceolate or aw]-(haped, and nearly upright. This part w'as 
little obferved before the time of Linnaeus ; Ray, how¬ 
ever, remarks it here, and calls it ligtila : he fays there 
are two to each flower, of a violet colour, longer than 
the pedicel, one larger than the other. Filaments adher¬ 
ing to the fegments of the corolla, every other of them 
almoft to the anthers ; the three longeft are equal to the 
tube of the corolla. Antherae upright, incumbent, fome- 
what arrow-fhaped. Germ conical, whitilh. Style at top 
of a bluifh colour. Stigma villofe, moiftened with a 
drop of liquor, according to Linnaeus ; and having club- 
(haped glands, according to De Necker. The honeyed 
pores, which Linnaeus gives as the effential character of 
the genus, are not dilcoverable in this fpecies. The 
valves of the capfule are ovate, and terminate in a fliort 
point. Seeds numerous, of a fine blue colour, with a 
poliflved furface. Native of France, Flanders, Swiffer- 
- land, Italy, Spain, Perfia. It adorns our w'oods, coppices, 
and hedge-rows, with its flowers in the fpring-months. 
Mr. Curtis remarks that the feeds are not ripened tiil the 
end of the year; and that, on being fown, they did not 
vegetate till the fecond year. The fanciful term of non 
jcript-us was applied to this plant by Dodonseus, becaufe it 
has not the At At on the petals, and therefore, is not the 
hyacinthus poeticus. Our old botanilts name it Anglicus 
and Englijh hyacinth from, its extremecommonnefs in many 
parts of our illand. Gerarde calls it blew harebells, or Ens- 
Lijb jacini ; and it is the a zur'd harebell of Shakefpeare, ?n 
his Cymbeline. In French it is jacinte dcs bois-, and in 
German, Niederlandifche or Englfche hyacinthe. Dr. Wi¬ 
thering fays that the frelh roots are poifonous. Ac¬ 
cording to Gerarde, they are “full of a (limy glewilh. 
juice, which will ferve to fet feathers upon arrowes in¬ 
deed of glew', or to paite bookes with ; whereof is made 
the beft itarche, next unto that of wake-robin rootes.” 
2. Hyacinthus cernuus, or bending hyacinth: corollas 
bell-(haped, (fweliing at the bafe,) fix-parted; raceme 
drooping. This agrees with the firft fort in habit and ap¬ 
pearance, but it is (mailer, and differs in having the leaves 
more linear or lefs lanceolate, and more ereft; the receme 
is more nodding ; the corollas flelh-coloured, not blue, 
rounder, with the fides of the petals lels fpreading, flat at 
the bafe, not marked with a railed line on the back, and 
lefs rolled back (though ftill reflex) than in that. The 
piftil is fliorter than the ftamens; and the two braftes are 
of a deeper carnation. The corolla fwells out at the bafe 
in this, which it does not by any means in the preceding 
Native of Spain. Cultivated in 1759, by Mr. Miller 3 ; 
who looks upon it as a variety of the firft, differing prin¬ 
cipally in having the flowers of a blu(h peach colour. 
Ray alfo obferves that it is not very unlike the preceding, 
and that Cafpar Bauhin did not feparate them. Parkin- 
fon makes them one, under the title of Englifli hares- 
bels, or Spanifh iacinth. 
Mr. Miller’s third fort, which he abfurdly calls H. utrin- 
que jloribus, feems to be a variety of this. He fays it has 
blue flowers difpofed on every fide the ffalk, which riles 
about nine inches high, that the thyrfe of flowers is-large 
when the roots are ftrong, that it is a native of Spain and 
Italy, and that it was formerly prelerved in gardens, but, 
having been negleCted for the fine varieties of the eaftem 
hyacinths, it is now feldom feen but in old gardens. 
This is the cafe with many of our old favourites, which 
are call out daily to make room for new comers, info- 
much that many of the plants which were mod known 
in the time of Cafpar Bauhin are now ftrangers to us. 
3. Hyacinthus ferotinus, or late-flowering hyacinth : 
outer petals almoft diftinct; inner coadunate. Buib ovate- 
conical, folid, covered with brown (kins. Scape Angle, a 
foot high, fmooth. Leaves channelled, (heathing the fcape at 
the bafe, (horter than the fcape, (harp at the end. Flowers 
in a raceme, all pointing the fame-way, drooping a little ; 
each on a ■fliort- peduncle, with an awl- ftiaped brack at 
the bale. Corolla of a dull greenish red colour. When 
the flowers firft appear, of a light blue,, but fading to a 
worn-out purple colour, according to Miller. In Ge¬ 
rarde the)' are defcribed as of a very dufky colour, as it 
were mixt with purple, yellow, and green, and as having 
x ' ' no 
