{{Short description|Genus of flowering plants}} {{Redirect|Hyacinthus||}} {{Automatic taxobox |image = Hyacinth - Anglesey Abbey.jpg |image_caption = Cultivar of ''Hyacinthus orientalis'' |taxon = Hyacinthus |authority = Tourn. ex L. |subdivision_ranks = Species |subdivision = See text |type_species = ''Hyacinthus orientalis'' }}
'''''Hyacinthus''''' {{IPAc-en|ˌ|h|aɪ|ə|ˈ|s|ɪ|n|θ|ə|s}}<ref>{{Cite Merriam-Webster|Hyacinthus}}</ref> is a genus of bulbous herbs and spring-blooming perennials.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://homeguides.sfgate.com/hyacinths-perennials-63933.html|title = Are Hyacinths Perennials?}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gardenguides.com/12446829-are-hyacinths-perennials.html|title = Are Hyacinths Perennials?}}</ref> They are fragrant flowering plants in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae<ref>{{cite web |last=Stevens |first=P.F. |title=Angiosperm Phylogeny Website: Asparagales: Scilloideae |url=https://www.mobot.org/mobot/research/apweb/orders/asparagalesweb.htm#Hyacinthaceae|website=Mobot.org|access-date=7 November 2017}}</ref> and are commonly called '''hyacinths''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|h|aɪ|ə|s|ɪ|n|θ|s}}). The genus is native predominantly to the Eastern Mediterranean region from the south of Turkey to the Palestine region, although naturalized more widely.<ref name=POWO_24372-1>{{Cite POWO|title=''Hyacinthus'' Tourn. ex L..|id=24372-1|access-date=2023-11-11|mode=cs1}}</ref>
The name comes from Greek mythology: Hyacinth was killed by Zephyrus, the god of the west wind, jealous of his love for Apollo. He then transformed the drops of Hyacinth's blood into flowers.
Several species of ''Brodiaea'', ''Scilla'', and other plants that have flower clusters borne along the stalk that were formerly classified in the Liliaceae family also have common names with the word "hyacinth" in them. Hyacinths should also not be confused with the genus ''Muscari'', which are commonly known as grape hyacinths.
==Description== ''Hyacinthus'' grows from bulbs, each producing around 4-6 narrow untoothed leaves and 1-3 spikes or racemes of flowers. In wild species, the flowers are widely spaced, with as few as 2 per raceme in ''H. litwinovii'' and typically 6-8 in ''H. orientalis'' which grows to a height of {{convert|15|–|20|cm|in|0|abbr=on}}. Cultivars of ''H. orientalis'' have much denser flower spikes and are generally more robust.<ref>{{Citation|year=1993 |editor-last=Beckett |editor-first=K. |title=Encyclopaedia of Alpines : Volume 1 (A–K) |location=Pershore, UK |publisher=AGS Publications |isbn=978-0-900048-61-6 }} pp. 656–657.</ref>
==Taxonomy== [[File:Hyacinthus transcaspicus GotBot 2015.JPG|left|thumb|''Hyacinthus transcaspicus'']] The genus name ''Hyacinthus'' was attributed to Joseph Pitton de Tournefort when used by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.<ref name=POWO_24372-1/> It is derived from a Greek name used for a plant by Homer, {{lang|grc|ὑάκινθος}} ({{lang|grc-Latn|hyákinthos}}), the flowers supposedly having grown up from the blood of a youth of this name killed by the god Zephyr out of jealousy.<ref>{{Citation |last1=Hyam |first1=R. |last2=Pankhurst |first2=R.J. |year=1995 |title=Plants and their names : a concise dictionary |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-866189-4 |name-list-style=amp }}</ref> The original wild plant known as ''hyakinthos'' to Homer has been identified with ''Scilla bifolia'',<ref name=Rave00>{{Citation |last=Lindsell |first=Alice |title=Was Theocritus a botanist? }} in {{Citation |last1=Raven |first1=John E. |date=2000 |editor1-last=Raven |editor1-first=Faith |editor2-last=Stearn |editor2-first=William T. |editor3-last=Jardine |editor3-first=Nicholas |editor4-last=Frasca-Spada |editor4-first=Marina |title=Plants and Plant Lore in Ancient Greece |publication-place=Oxford |publisher=Leopard's Head Press |isbn=978-0-904920-40-6 |page=27 |name-list-style=amp }}, p. 68</ref> among other possibilities. Linnaeus defined the genus ''Hyacinthus'' widely to include species now placed in other genera of the subfamily Scilloideae, such as ''Muscari'' (e.g. his ''Hyacinthus botryoides'')<ref name="WCSP_278581">{{Citation |contribution=Hyacinthus botryoides |title=World Checklist of Selected Plant Families |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |url=http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/namedetail.do?name_id=278581 |access-date=2013-03-20 }}{{Dead link|date=August 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> and ''Hyacinthoides'' (e.g. his ''Hyacinthus non-scriptus'').<ref name="WCSP_278654">{{Citation |contribution=Hyacinthus non-scriptus |title=World Checklist of Selected Plant Families |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |url=http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/namedetail.do?name_id=278654 |access-date=2013-03-20 |archive-date=2012-04-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120423110153/http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/namedetail.do?name_id=278654 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
''Hyacinthus'' was formerly the type genus of the separate family Hyacinthaceae; prior to that, the genus was placed in the lily family Liliaceae.<ref>{{Citation |url=http://www.tolweb.org/Hyacinthaceae |title=Hyacinthaceae |publisher=Tolweb.org |access-date=2011-03-20 |archive-date=2011-05-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110522173500/http://tolweb.org/hyacinthaceae |url-status=dead }}</ref>
===Species=== Three species are placed within the genus ''Hyacinthus'':<ref name=POWO_24372-1/> * ''Hyacinthus litwinovii'' – north-east Iran to southern Turkmenistan * ''Hyacinthus orientalis'' - Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Turkey; common, Dutch or garden hyacinth<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:536789-1|title= Hyacinthus orientalis}}</ref> * ''Hyacinthus transcaspicus'' – north-east Iran to southern Turkmenistan
Some authorities place ''H. litwonovii'' and ''H. transcaspicus'' in the related genus ''Hyacinthella'',<ref name=Czer95>{{Citation |last=Czerepanov |first=S.K. |year=1995 |title=Vascular Plants of Russia and Adjacent States (the Former USSR) |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-45006-5 }}, cited in {{Citation |title=World Checklist of Selected Plant Families |publisher=The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |url=https://apps.kew.org/wcsp/home.do |access-date=2011-10-07 }}, under ''Hyacinthella litwinovii'' and ''Hyacinthella transcaspica''</ref> which would make ''Hyacinthus'' a monotypic genus.
==Distribution== The genus ''Hyacinthus'' is considered native to the eastern Mediterranean from southern Turkey to the region of Palestine, including Lebanon and Syria, and on through Iraq and Iran to Turkmenistan.<ref name=POWO_24372-1/> It is widely naturalized elsewhere, including Europe (Bulgaria, France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Sardinia, Sicily and former Yugoslavia), Cyprus, North America (California, Pennsylvania, Texas), central Mexico, the Caribbean (Cuba, Haiti) and Korea.<ref name=POWO_24372-1/>
==Cultivation== {{unsourcedsection|date=March 2026}} The Dutch, or common hyacinth, of house and garden culture (''H. orientalis'', native to Southwest Asia) was so popular in the 18th century that over 2,000 cultivars were grown in the Netherlands, its chief commercial producer. This hyacinth has a single dense spike of fragrant flowers 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.
==Toxicity== The inedible bulbs contain oxalic acid and may cause mild skin irritation. Protective gloves are recommended when handling.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/hil-8507.html |title=Home Forcing of Hyacinths |work=North Carolina State University Horticulture Information |access-date=2013-03-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130404065021/http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/hil-8507.html |archive-date=2013-04-04 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
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.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010-04-27 |title=Traditional Foods of Puglia Italy-Cooking Lampascioni Hyacinth Bulbs |url=https://italian-connection.com/living-in-italy/traditional-foods-of-puglia-italy-cooking-lampascioni-hyacinth-bulbs/ |access-date=2024-06-27 |website=Italian Connection |language=en-US}}</ref>
==Culture== thumb|right|Nowruz Sonbol (Hyacinth) Hyacinths are often associated with spring and rebirth.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hyacinthus {{!}} Youth, Beauty & Tragedy {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hyacinthus |access-date=2025-03-09 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> The hyacinth flower is used in the Haft-Seen table setting for the Persian New Year celebration, Nowruz, held at the spring equinox. The Persian word for hyacinth is {{Lang|fa|سنبل}} (''{{Lang|fa|sonbol}}''), meaning 'cluster'.
The name {{Lang|grc|ὑάκινθος}} (''{{Lang|grc|hyakinthos}}'') was used in Ancient Greece for at least two distinct plants, which have variously been identified as ''Scilla bifolia'' or ''Orchis quadripunctata'' and ''Consolida ajacis'' (larkspur).{{sfnp|Raven|2000|p=27}} Plants known by this name were sacred to Aphrodite.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kurke |first1=Leslie |title=Coins, bodies, games, and gold : the politics of meaning in archaic Greece |date=1999 |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton, NJ |isbn=0691007365 |page=192}}</ref>
The hyacinth appears in the first section of T. S. Eliot's ''The Waste Land'' during a conversation between the narrator and the "hyacinth girl" that takes place in the spring.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47311/the-waste-land|title=The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot|date=2018-09-05|website=Poetry Foundation|language=en-us|others=Poetry Foundation|access-date=2018-09-05}}</ref>
{{Blockquote|<poem> You gave me hyacinths first a year ago; "They called me the hyacinth girl." —Yet when we came back, late, from the Hyacinth garden, Your arms full, and your hair wet, I could not Speak, and my eyes failed, I was neither Living nor dead, and I knew nothing, Looking into the heart of light, the silence. </poem>}}
In Roman Catholic tradition, ''H. orientalis'' represents prudence, constancy, desire of heaven, and peace of mind.<ref name="catholictradition">{{cite web |title=Signs and Symbols |url=http://www.catholictradition.org/Saints/signs4.htm |website=catholictradition.org |access-date=2019-01-22}}</ref>
American rock band The Doors released a song entitled "Hyacinth House" which appeared on their 1971 album ''L.A. Woman'', the last to feature lead singer Jim Morrison.
==Colour== The colour of the blue flower hyacinth plant varies between 'mid-blue',<ref>Mathew, Brian (1987), The Smaller Bulbs, London: B.T. Batsford, {{ISBN|978-0-7134-4922-8}}</ref> violet blue and bluish purple. Within this range can be found '''Persenche''', which is an American color name (probably from French), for a hyacinth hue.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://people.csail.mit.edu/jaffer/Color/M.htm |title=(M) |access-date=2015-09-24 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150917005032/http://people.csail.mit.edu/jaffer/Color/M.htm |archive-date=2015-09-17 }}</ref> The colour analysis of Persenche is 73% ultramarine, 9% red and 18% white.<ref>Funk & Wagnell's New Standard Dictionary (1942), under spectrum color list.</ref>
==Unicode== {{charmap | 1FABB | name1 = Hyacinth | size = 200% | Info = yes }}
==Gallery== <gallery> File:P1130470 Hyacinthus orientalis Common hyacinth (Hyacinthaceae).JPG|Wild-type ''Hyacinthus orientalis'' in cultivation File:HyacinthPink.jpg|Pink cultivar File:Hyacinths - floriade canberra.jpg|Hyacinth cultivars in Floriade, Canberra File:Floriade canberra02.jpg|Hyacinth cultivars in Floriade, Canberra File:White and purple hyacinths.JPG|White and purple hyacinth cultivars in Detroit, Michigan File:Young boy picking hyacinths in Normandy - 1993.jpg|Young boy picking hyacinths in Normandy in France File:Blue Hyacinth Cross Section of flowers.jpg|Cross section of Hyacinth orientalis cultivar </gallery>
==See also== * Tekhelet - meaning "bluish violet" or "blue" in Hebrew, was translated as hyakinthos (Greek: ὑακίνθος, "hyacinth").
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== * Coccoris, Patricia (2012) ''The Curious History of the Bulb Vase''. Published by Cortex Design.
==External links== {{Commons}} * [https://www.flowerbulbs.cornell.edu/newsletter/No.%204%20Hyacinth%20Perennializing.pdf Hyacinth perennialization Research Newsletter Number 4. (October 2004) Flower Bulb Research Program Department of Horticulture, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University] * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXm5cwRmDAs Grow up and blossoming of Hyacinth]
{{Taxonbar|from=Q158758}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Scilloideae Category:Asparagaceae genera Category:Garden plants of Asia Category:Taxa named by Joseph Pitton de Tournefort