Grape Hyacinth Cluster
by Tikvah's Hope
Title
Grape Hyacinth Cluster
Artist
Tikvah's Hope
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
A cluster of grape hyacinths.
Grape Hyacinth, otherwise known as Muscari, are actually not Hyacinths at all. They are members of the Lily family, and are native to the Mediterranean area and Asia Minor. They are small plants, usually not much more than 10 inches tall, and produce blue or purple petals that are fused together and have small white tips, giving them a balloon-like or, well.....grape like appearance, and they have sort of a musky-grassy smell. One grape hyacinth plant doesn't look like much, but in a mass planting, these small bulbs can be a total knockout.
Muscari, a genus name derived from the Greek word for musk, alludes to the delicious fragrance of many of the brood, which originated mostly in Italy, Greece, North Africa, Turkey, Armenia, and the Caucasus. The flowers of this genus typically cluster like grapes on the stalk, hence the common name grape hyacinth. Some say the folksy name “starch lilies” relates to their aroma, but elsewhere I’ve read that the mucilaginous bulbs were actually once used for stiffening linen. In ecclesiastical gardens they’re sometimes labeled as “lent flowers” or “church steeples.”
Uploaded
February 24th, 2013
Statistics
Viewed 1,019 Times - Last Visitor from New York, NY on 03/28/2024 at 4:59 AM
Embed
Share
Sales Sheet