Hyacinthus orientalis, the common hyacinth, garden hyacinth or Dutch hyacinth, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae, native to southwestern Asia, southern and central Turkey, northwestern Syria, Lebanon and northern Israel. It was introduced to Europe in the 16th century. It is widely cultivated everywhere in the temperate world for its strongly fragrant flowers which appear exceptionally early in the season, and frequently forced to flower at Christmas time. Description It is a bulbous plant, with a diameter bulb. The leaves are strap-shaped, long and broad, with a soft, succulent texture, and produced in a basal whorl. The flowering stem is a raceme, which grows to (rarely to ) tall, bearing 2–50 fragrant purple flowers 2–3.5 cm long with a tubular, six-lobed perianth. Mythology In Greek mythology, Hyacinth was a young man admired by Apollo and Zephyr, but killed by a discus in a jealous fight between the two gods; a flower was allegedly named after him when it sprang from his blood. However, Theophrastus describes both a cultivated and a wild plant called (), neither of which are considered to be the modern hyacinth. Reproduction The reproduction of the plant in cultivation can be done easily by dividing the newly appeared bulbs from the main plant. In nature, this method is also used by the hyacinth, but the plant also has a specific kind of reproduction by seeds. The plant is pollinated by different insects such as honey bees. The flowers are very fragrant and attract the insects by rewarding them with nectar. After flowering, the ripening of the seed capsules begins. They are fleshy, spherical structures. When the capsules reach maturity, they get dried and split into three parts. Each part has two subdivisions and contains a different quantity of seeds. The seeds are black grains with one white elaiosome of variable size. The seeds are dispersed through myrmecochory; that is, ants find the seeds and take them into their burrows, where they use the elaiosome for food. There, the seeds can germinate. Cultivation H. orientalis 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. It flowers in the early spring, growing best in full sun to part shade in well-drained, but not dry, soil. It requires a winter