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Not Our Kind of Hyacinth

There are several plants called hyacinths, but only one of them is this week's painting subject. Some of the hyacinths that are not our focus this week are water hyacinths, ...

... grape hyacinths, ...

... and bean hyacinths.

This Week's Hyacinth

Instead, our hyacinth is the common hyacinth, garden hyacinth, or Dutch hyacinth (Hyacinthus orientalis).

The photo above shows hyacinths as they typically appear in the wild. Blossoms grow scattered along a central stem or raceme that usually grow from 8 to 14 inches tall. Six to eight flowers per raceme is common, though there may be as few as two. A single plant can have from one to three racemes. They are accompanied by several sword-like linear leaves.

Hyacinths originated in the eastern Mediterranean area but have become established elsewhere around the world, mostly in Europe, eastern Asia, and North America.

They can make colorful displays in the wild.

Today, there are many cultivated varieties of hyacinths (over 2,000 have been named) that usually have much denser clusters of blossoms on the racemes, greater numbers of leaves, etc. Racemes in cultivated hyacinths often have from 40 to 100 flowers each.

Hyacinthus orientalis (hiyashinsu in Japanese) grows from bulbs. Every part of the plant is toxic if eaten in large quantities, but the greatest concentration of poison is in the bulbs which should never be eaten at all.

Hyacinths naturally begin sprouting in the early spring, though horticulturalists have learned how to force sprouting as early as Christmas. 

This photo shows growth at a little later stage.

Blossoms soon begin to unfurl.

Cultivated hyacinths come in a variety of colors.

Garden landscapes can benefit from the variety of hyacinth colors.

Some gardens even sort of imitate wild settings with hyacinths.

Here is a close-up view of hyacinth blossoms.

As can be seen, the blossoms have deep tubes leading to the base, a cross section of which is shown below.

Artwork

Japanese artists haven't produced a lot of hiyashinsu (hyacinth) paintings, but there are some. The first painting below, however, is not by a Japanese artist.

Tanigami Konan (1879 - 1928)

Tanigami is best known for his woodblock prints of birds and flowers (kachō-ga). He was the first Japanese born artist to paint western flowers in the series, Seiyo Soka Zofu (A Picture Album of Western Plants and Flowers). The series depicts flowers in full bloom.

Shodo Kawarazaki (1889 - 1973)

Shodo studied yūzen dyeing (a process similar to kōrokutensai-hō painting--painting inside outlines) when he was young and later studied painting. He is best known for his botanical prints, a series of which was done in the 1950s in post-war Japan. They made him known worldwide. They continue to be printed today.