Amazing stories about plants
from the AG archives
These extracts from issue of AG in 1969 look at the stories behind various plants and the derivations of some of their names
■ The hyacinth
According to Greek mythology, Hyakinthos was a beautiful Spartan youth who played with the god Apollo and was accidentally killed by a blow from a quoit. Apollo was grief-stricken, and in memory of his friend caused a flower to grow up from his blood bearing the letters Al on its petals, this being the Greek for ‘woe’ or ‘alas’. Milton refers to this story in his Lycidas when he alludes to the hyacinth as ‘that sanguine flower inscribed with woe’.
Another story is that Zephyrus was jealous of Hyakinthos and killed him. There are other versions, but the one common factor is the turning of the victim’s blood into a flower and the curious marking on its petals.
Unfortunately for a pretty tale, if you look at a hyacinth flower today you will look
