Hyacinthus /ˌhaɪəˈsɪnθəs/ is a small genus of bulbous herbs, spring-blooming perennials. They are fragrant flowering plants … See more

Hyacinthus grows from bulbs, each producing around four to six narrow untoothed leaves and one to three spikes or racemes of flowers. In the wild species, the flowers are widely spaced, with as few as two per … See more

The genus name Hyacinthus was attributed to Joseph Pitton de Tournefort when used by Carl Linnaeus in 1753. It is derived from a Greek name used for a plant by Homer, ὑάκινθος (hyákinthos), the flowers supposedl… See more

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. It is widely naturalized elsewhere, … See more

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 commercia… See more