Hyacinthus orientalis
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| Hyacinthus orientalis | ||||||||||||||
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 Hyacinthus orientalis, natural form
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| Hyacinthus orientalis L. |
Hyacinthus orientalis (Common Hyacinth, Garden Hyacinth or Dutch Hyacinth), is a perennial flowering plant native to southwestern Asia, in southern and central Turkey, northwestern Syria and Lebanon.
It is a bulb plant, with a 3-7 cm diameter bulb. The leaves are strap-shaped, 15-35 cm long and 1-3 cm broad, with a soft, succulent texture, and produced in a basal whorl. The flowering stem grows to 20-35 cm (rarely to 45 cm) tall, bearing a spike of 2-50 fragrant purple flowers 2-3.5 cm long with a tubular, six-lobed perianth.
[edit] Cultivation
It has a long history of cultivation as an ornamental plant, grown across the Mediterranean region, and later France (where it is used in perfumery), the Netherlands (a major centre of cultivation) and elsewhere.
The Garden Hyacinth flowers in the early spring. They grow best in full sun to part shade in well-drained, but not dry, soil. It requires a winter dormancy period, and will only persist in cold-weather regions. It is grown for the clusters of fragrant, brightly-coloured flowers. Over 2,000 cultivars have been selected and named, with flower colour varying from blue, white, pale yellow, pink, red or purple; most cultivars have also been selected for denser flower spikes than the wild type, bearing 40-100 or more flowers on each spike.
H. orientalis contains alkaloids and is toxic if eaten in large quantities. The bulb, however, is the most poisonous part and should not be ingested under any circumstances.
