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''Hyacinthus'' is a small
genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...
of
bulb In botany, a bulb is structurally a short stem with fleshy leaves or leaf basesBell, A.D. 1997. ''Plant form: an illustrated guide to flowering plant morphology''. Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K. that function as food storage organs dur ...
ous, spring-blooming perennials. They are fragrant flowering plants in the family
Asparagaceae Asparagaceae, known as the asparagus family, is a family of flowering plants, placed in the order Asparagales of the monocots. The family name is based on the edible garden asparagus, '' Asparagus officinalis''. Those who live in the temperate ...
, subfamily
Scilloideae Scilloideae (named after the genus '' Scilla'', "squill") is a subfamily of bulbous plants within the family '' Asparagaceae''. Scilloideae is sometimes treated as a separate family Hyacinthaceae, named after the genus '' Hyacinthus''. Scilloideae ...
and are commonly called hyacinths (). The genus is native to the area of the eastern
Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...
from the south of
Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...
to Palestine, although naturalized more widely. Several species of '' Brodiaea'', '' Scilla'', and other plants that were formerly classified in the Liliaceae family and have flower clusters borne along the stalk also have common names with the word "hyacinth" in them. Hyacinths should also not be confused with the genus ''
Muscari ''Muscari'' is a genus of perennial bulbous plants native to Eurasia that produce spikes of dense, most commonly blue, urn-shaped flowers resembling bunches of grapes in the spring. The common name for the genus is grape hyacinth (a name which is ...
'', which are commonly known as grape hyacinths.


Description

''Hyacinthus'' grows from bulbs, each producing around four to six linear leaves and one to three spikes or
raceme A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the s ...
s of flowers. In the wild species, the flowers are widely spaced, with as few as two per raceme in '' H. litwinovii'' and typically six to eight in '' H. orientalis'' which grows to a height of .
Cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture ...
s of ''H. orientalis'' have much denser flower spikes and are generally more robust.


Systematics

The genus name ''Hyacinthus'' was attributed to Joseph Pitton de Tournefort when used by
Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, ...
in 1753. It is derived from a Greek name used for a plant by
Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...
, (), the flowers supposedly having grown up from the blood of a youth of this name accidentally killed by the god Zephyr. The original wild plant known as ''hyakinthos'' to Homer has been identified with ''
Scilla bifolia ''Scilla bifolia'', the alpine squill or two-leaf squill, is a herbaceous perennial plant growing from an underground bulb,Pignatti S. - Flora d'Italia - Edagricole – 1982 Vol. III, pg. 365 belonging to the genus '' Scilla'' of the family Aspa ...
'', in , p. 68 among other possibilities. Linnaeus defined the genus ''Hyacinthus'' widely to include species now placed in other genera of the subfamily
Scilloideae Scilloideae (named after the genus '' Scilla'', "squill") is a subfamily of bulbous plants within the family '' Asparagaceae''. Scilloideae is sometimes treated as a separate family Hyacinthaceae, named after the genus '' Hyacinthus''. Scilloideae ...
, such as ''
Muscari ''Muscari'' is a genus of perennial bulbous plants native to Eurasia that produce spikes of dense, most commonly blue, urn-shaped flowers resembling bunches of grapes in the spring. The common name for the genus is grape hyacinth (a name which is ...
'' (e.g. his '' Hyacinthus botryoides'') and ''
Hyacinthoides ''Hyacinthoides'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asparagaceae, known as bluebells. Systematics ''Hyacinthoides'' is classified in the subfamily Scilloideae (now part of the family Asparagaceae, but formerly treated as a separate f ...
'' (e.g. his '' Hyacinthus non-scriptus''). ''Hyacinthus'' was formerly the type genus of the separate family Hyacinthaceae; prior to that, the genus was placed in the lily family
Liliaceae The lily family, Liliaceae, consists of about 15 genera and 610 species of flowering plants within the order Liliales. They are monocotyledonous, perennial, herbaceous, often bulbous geophytes. Plants in this family have evolved with a fair ...
.


Species

Three species are placed within the genus ''Hyacinthus'':, search for "Hyacinthus" and its species * ''
Hyacinthus litwinovii ''Hyacinthus'' is a small genus of bulbous, spring-blooming perennials. They are fragrant flowering plants in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae and are commonly called hyacinths (). The genus is native to the area of the eastern ...
'' * ''
Hyacinthus orientalis ''Hyacinthus orientalis'', the common hyacinth, garden hyacinth or Dutch hyacinth, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae, native to southwestern Asia, southern and central Turkey, northwestern Syria, Le ...
'' - common, Dutch or garden hyacinth * ''
Hyacinthus transcaspicus ''Hyacinthus'' is a small genus of bulbous, spring-blooming perennials. They are fragrant flowering plants in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae and are commonly called hyacinths (). The genus is native to the area of the eastern ...
'' Some authorities place ''H. litwonovii'' and ''H. transcaspicus'' in the related genus ''
Hyacinthella ''Hyacinthella'' is a genus of bulbous flowering plants in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae (formerly the family Hyacinthaceae).Stevens, P.F. (2001 onwards),Asparagales: Scilloideae, ''Angiosperm Phylogeny Website'', retrieved 2013 ...
'',, cited in , under ''Hyacinthella litwinovii'' and ''Hyacinthella transcaspica'' which would make ''Hyacinthus'' a
monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...
genus.


Distribution

The genus ''Hyacinthus'' is considered native to the eastern Mediterranean from southern
Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...
to north
Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
, including
Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...
,
Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the s ...
,
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
,
Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
,
Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus lie ...
,
Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
, and the region of Palestine. It is widely naturalized elsewhere, including Europe (the Netherlands, France, Sardinia, Italy, Sicily, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Albania, Greece and Cyprus), Korea, North America (United States and Canada) and central Mexico, Cuba and Haiti.


Cultivation

The Dutch, or common hyacinth of house and
garden A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate bot ...
culture (''H. orientalis'', native to Southwest Asia) was so popular in the 18th century that over 2,000 cultivars were grown in the
Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
, its chief commercial producer. This hyacinth has a single dense spike of fragrant
flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechanis ...
s in shades of red, blue, white, orange, pink, violet or yellow. A form of the common hyacinth is the less hardy and smaller blue- or white-petalled Roman hyacinth of florists. These flowers need indirect sunlight and should be watered moderately.


Toxicity

Hyacinth bulbs are poisonous; they contain
oxalic acid Oxalic acid is an organic acid with the systematic name ethanedioic acid and formula . It is the simplest dicarboxylic acid. It is a white crystalline solid that forms a colorless solution in water. Its name comes from the fact that early invest ...
. Handling hyacinth
bulbs In botany, a bulb is structurally a short stem with fleshy leaves or leaf basesBell, A.D. 1997. ''Plant form: an illustrated guide to flowering plant morphology''. Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K. that function as food storage organs durin ...
can cause mild skin irritation. Protective gloves are recommended. Some members of the plant subfamily Scilloideae are commonly called hyacinths but are not members of the genus ''Hyacinthus'' and are edible; one example is the tassel hyacinth, which forms part of the cuisine of some Mediterranean countries.


Culture

Hyacinths are often associated with spring and rebirth. The hyacinth flower is used in the
Haft-Seen Haftsin ( fa, هفت‌سین) is an arrangement of seven symbolic items whose names start with the letter "س" (pronounced as "seen"), the 15th letter in the Persian alphabet; "haft" (هفت) is Persian for "seven". It is traditionally displayed ...
table setting for the Persian New Year celebration, Nowruz, held at the spring equinox. The Persian word for hyacinth is ('). The name (') was used in
Ancient Greece Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cu ...
for at least two distinct plants, which have variously been identified as ''Scilla bifolia'' or '' Orchis quadripunctata'' and '' Consolida ajacis'' (larkspur). Plants known by this name were sacred to
Aphrodite Aphrodite ( ; grc-gre, Ἀφροδίτη, Aphrodítē; , , ) is an ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, and procreation. She was syncretized with the Roman goddess . Aphrodite's major symbols incl ...
. According to
Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities o ...
, the flower was created by the god
Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...
in commemoration of his lover Hyacinthus, whom he had accidentally killed, and who was worshipped as a
hero A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or a main fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or strength. Like other formerly gender-specific terms (like ''actor''), ''her ...
at
Amyclae Amyclae or Amyklai ( grc, Ἀμύκλαι) was a city of ancient Laconia, situated on the right or western bank of the Eurotas, 20 stadia south of Sparta, in a district remarkable for the abundance of its trees and its fertility. Amyclae was one ...
, southwest of
Sparta Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referr ...
. The hyacinth appears in the first section of T.S. Eliot's ''
The Waste Land ''The Waste Land'' is a poem by T. S. Eliot, widely regarded as one of the most important poems of the 20th century and a central work of Modernist poetry in English, modernist poetry. Published in 1922, the 434-line poem first appeared in the ...
'' during a conversation between the narrator and the "hyacinth girl" that takes place in the spring. In
Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
tradition, ''
Hyacinthus orientalis ''Hyacinthus orientalis'', the common hyacinth, garden hyacinth or Dutch hyacinth, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae, native to southwestern Asia, southern and central Turkey, northwestern Syria, Le ...
'' represents prudence, constancy, desire of heaven and peace of mind.


Gallery

File:P1130470 Hyacinthus orientalis Common hyacinth (Hyacinthaceae).JPG, Wild-type ''Hyacinthus orientalis'' in cultivation File:HyacinthPink.jpg, Pink cultivar Image:Hyacinths - floriade canberra.jpg, Hyacinth cultivars in
Floriade, Canberra Floriade is a flower and entertainment festival held annually in Canberra's Commonwealth Park on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin. It features extensive displays of flowering bulbs with integrated sculptures and other artistic features. ''Flor ...
Image:Floriade canberra02.jpg, Hyacinth cultivars in
Floriade, Canberra Floriade is a flower and entertainment festival held annually in Canberra's Commonwealth Park on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin. It features extensive displays of flowering bulbs with integrated sculptures and other artistic features. ''Flor ...
File:White and purple hyacinths.JPG, White and purple hyacinth cultivars in
Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...
File:Young boy picking hyacinths in Normandy - 1993.jpg, Young boy picking hyacinths in
Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...
in
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...


Colour

The colour of the blue flower hyacinth plant varies between 'mid-blue', violet blue and bluish
purple Purple is any of a variety of colors with hue between red and blue. In the RGB color model used in computer and television screens, purples are produced by mixing red and blue light. In the RYB color model historically used by painters ...
. Within this range can be found Persenche, which is an American
color Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associ ...
name (probably from French), for a hyacinth hue. The colour analysis of Persenche is 73% ultramarine, 9% red and 18%
white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...
.Funk & Wagnell's New Standard Dictionary (1942), under
spectrum A spectrum (plural ''spectra'' or ''spectrums'') is a condition that is not limited to a specific set of values but can vary, without gaps, across a continuum. The word was first used scientifically in optics to describe the rainbow of colors ...
color list.


See also

*
Tekhelet ''Tekhelet'' ( he, תְּכֵלֶת ''təḵēleṯ''; alternate spellings include ''tekheleth'', ''t'chelet'', ''techelet'' and ''techeiles'') is a "blue-violet", "blue", or "turquoise" dye highly prized by ancient Mediterranean civilizations. I ...
- meaning "bluish violet" or "blue" in Hebrew, was translated as hyakinthos (Greek: ὑακίνθος, "hyacinth").


References


Further reading

* Coccoris, Patricia (2012) ''The Curious History of the Bulb Vase''. Published by Cortex Design.


External links


Hyacinth perennialization Research Newsletter Number 4. (October 2004) Flower Bulb Research Program Department of Horticulture, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University

Grow up and blossoming of Hyacinth
{{Taxonbar, from=Q158758 Scilloideae Asparagaceae genera Flora of Central Asia Garden plants of Asia Taxa named by Joseph Pitton de Tournefort