GOS 
HYACI 
upright. The flowers, or bells as the fiorifts call them, 
fhould be fufi'jcientiy numerous, each fufpended by a 
fhort ftrong- peduncle in a horizontal pofition ; the whole 
having a compact pyramidal form, with the crown or up- 
permoil flower perfectly ereft. 2. The flowers fhould be 
large, and well filled with broad bold petals, appearing to 
the eye rather convex than flat or hoiiovv ; they fhould 
extend to about the middle of the fcape or fta’lk. 3 The 
plain colours fhould be clear and bright, and llrong are 
in general preferred to pale colours; Rich as are mixed 
fhould blend with-elegance. 
8. Hyacinthus corymbofus, or corynibed hyacinth: co¬ 
rollas funnel-form, raceme erect; fcape fhorter than the 
leaves. 
9. Hyacinthus Romanus, or Roman grape-hyacinth : 
corollas bell-fhaped, half-fix-cleft, in racemes ; ftamens 
membranaceous. 
10. Hyacinthus mufcari, or mufk-hyacinth : corollas 
ovate, all unequal, with one bracte under the pedicel, 
and another above it. The tenth fort has pretty large 
oval bulbous roots, from which arife feveral leaves, which 
are about eight or nine inches long, and half an inch 
broad ; they are incurved a little on their fides, and end 
. in obtufe points ; thefe embrace each other at their bale ; 
out of the middle of thefe the flalk which fuflains the 
flowers aril'es ; it is naked below, but the upper parts are 
garnifhed with fmall flowers growing in a fpike ; thefe 
have ovate pitcher-fliaped petals, which are reflexed at 
their brim, and are of an afh-coloured purple, or obfolete 
colour, feeming as if faded, but have an agreeable mufky 
•ficent; thefe Italics do not rife more than fix inches high, 
fo the flowers make no great appearance; but, where they 
are in fome quantity, they will perfume the air to a con- 
iiderable diftance. This fort flowers in April, and the 
feeds ripen in July. 
Of this there are two varieties ; one of which has the 
fame-coloured flowers with this here enumerated on the 
lower part of the fpike, but they are larger, and have 
more of the purple caff; but the flowers on the upper 
part of the fpike are yellow, and have a very grateful 
odour: the Dutch gardeners title it Tibcadi mufcari. As 
this is fuppofed to be only a feminal variety of the third, it 
is not enumerated as diftinft. There is another variety 
,of this, with very large yellow flowers, that has been 
raifed from feeds in Holland, which the florifls there fell 
for a guinea a-root. It is a native of the Levant; Lin¬ 
naeus fays beyond the Bofphorus, whence it was brought 
into Europe before 1554:. It was cultivated here in 1597, 
according to Gerarde. 
11. Hyacinthus convallarioides, orlily-hyacinth : corol¬ 
las bell-ihaped, ovate, pendulous; fcape filiform. Flowers 
without leaves, yellow. Found at the Cape of Good 
Hope by Thunberg. 
12. Hyacinthus monftrofus, or feathered hyacinth : co¬ 
rollas lubovate. The twelfth fort has a large bulbous 
root, from which come out feveral plain leaves a foot 
long, and about half an inch- broad at their bafe; they 
areTmooth, and end in obtufe points. The flower-ftalks 
rile near a foot and a half high ; they are naked at the 
bottom for about feven or eight inches, above which the 
panicles of flowers begin, and terminate the ftalks. The 
flowers ftand upon peduncles which are more than ail 
inch long, each fuftaining three, four, or five, flowers, 
wh.ofe petals are cut into flender filaments like hairs ; 
they are of a purplifli blue colour, and, having neither fta- 
mina nor germ, never produce feeds. It flowers in May ; 
and, after the flowers are pall, the llalks and leaves decay 
to the root, and new ones arife the following fpring. 
Native of the South of Europe. Linnaeus fuf'pefls it to 
be a variety of the next fpecies. It was cultivated here 
in 1629, according to Parkinfon. 
13. Hyacinthus comofus, or purple grape-hyacintli: 
corollas angular-cylindrical, the upper ones barren on 
longer pedicels; bracles fmall, acuminate,. Bulb as large 
NTHUS. 
as a middling onion, ovate, folid and white, covered with 
a purplifli Ikln. Leaves five or fix, a foot or eighteen 
inches long, and three quarters of an inch broad at the 
bafe, diminifhing gradually to a blunt point; linear, 
channelled, bright green. The flower'-ftalk rifes a foot 
or eighteen inches in height, round, upright, fmooth, 
glaucous green. The lower half is naked, but the upper 
pirt has a loofe raceme of flowers, frequently for a foot 
in length. The lower flowers are farther afunder ; be¬ 
fore they flower they are upright, but whilft they flower, 
and afterwards, they Hand out horizontally, on pedicels 
half an inch in length ; their colour is a yeilowilh green, 
with blue or purple at the end ; thefe are fertile. The 
upper ones are fraaller, barren, Hand upright, form a co¬ 
rymb, and are blue or violet, as are alfp their long pedi¬ 
cels. Parkinfon fays, “the whole itaike, with the flowers 
upon it, doth fomewliat relemble a long purfe tafiel, and 
thereupon divers gentlewomen have fo named it.” Native 
of the fouth of Europe, in corn-fields. Mr. Miller fays 
he had both roots and feeds from Spain and Portugal. 
John Bauhin and Ray both obferved it near Geneva; and 
profeflor Martyn at Chatelaine near that city in flower on 
the 2ill of April, 17.79. It flowers with us the end of 
April and beginning of May. It varies with white and 
with blue flowers, but the purple is moll common. Ge¬ 
rarde, who cultivated it in 1596, calls it faire-ltaired iacint ; 
Parkinfon, great purple faire-haired iacinth ; and Mr. Cur¬ 
tis, two-coloured or tajfel hyacinth. It is diftinguifhed more 
by its Angularity than its beauty, and by the difference 
between the lower and the upper barren flowers. 
14. Hyacinthus botryoides, or blue grape-hyacinth: 
corollas globular, uniform; leaves channelled-cylindrical, 
ftricl. This fort grows naturally in the vineyards and 
arable fields in France, Italy, and Germany; and, udiere it 
is once planted in a garden, it is not eafily rooted out, for 
the roots multiply greatly, and, if they are permitted to 
fcatter their feeds, the ground will be filled with the roots. 
There are three varieties of this, one with blue, another 
with white, and a third with afli-coloured, flowers; the firll 
has a fmall, round, bulbous root, from which come out 
many leaves about fix inches long, which are narrow, and 
their edges are incurved, fo as to be fliaped like a gutter; 
between thefe arifes the flower-ftalk, which has a clofe 
1’pike of blue feflile flowers at the top ; they fmell like 
new llarch, or the Hones of plums when frelh. Mr. Mil¬ 
ler probably intends by this the next fpecies, with which 
it is frequently confounded. The leaves hre three lines 
wide, llraight, on account of their ffiort petioles. The 
fpike has from twenty to thirty flowers. The teeth of 
the corolla are white, and the uppermoft are fmall. It 
differs from the next fpecies, in having the leaves up¬ 
right, the bunch of flowers fmaller, the flowers them- 
felves larger, rounder, of a paler and brighter blue. Par¬ 
kinfon enumerates three varieties, the white, the blufh- 
coloured, and the branched ; the fil'd is frequently im¬ 
ported with other bulbs from Holland ; the lull l'eems to 
be a curious variety, and was obtained, according to 
Clufius, from the white. The grape-hyacinth was culti¬ 
vated by Gerarde in 1596. He calls it great grape-flower ; 
Parkinfon, Jkie-coloured graps-Jlower. It is nowfeldom met 
with but in long-eftablifhed gardens. 
15. Hyacinthus racemofus, or ciuftered grape-hyacinth : 
corollas ovate, the upper ones feflile, braftes l’olitary, very 
fliort; leaves loofe. Scape a fpan high, blue under the 
flowers, compreffed at top, terminated by a clofe globular 
fpike or raceme of from forty to fifty flowers, of a very 
dark blue, with a three-cornered white mouth ; they 
fometimes vary to white, according to Haller. Native of 
the fouth of Europe, in corn-fields, gathered in flower 
near Geneva, April 8th, 1779. It was cultivated by Ge¬ 
rarde in 1596: he calls it blew grape-flower ; and Parkinfon, 
darkc blew grape-jlower. Mr. Curtis names it Jlarch-hyacinth. 
This is much more common in our gardens than the bo- 
tryoides, and flowers in April and May. 
*6. Hyacinthus 
