Beautiful Boy Turned Plant

Bluebells

take a forest hike this time of year
and you may come across some beautiful bluebells
they tend to bloom with the coming of April
bluebells are from the genus Hyacinthoides
and are native to northwestern Spain and the British Isles
the first genus in this species to be described was Hyacinthoides non-scriptus
and was described by none other than Carl Linneaus, a crucial played in the development of our current understanding of botany, taxonomy, and genetics
the genus name, was originally Hyacinth
and the specific epithed ‘non-scriptus’ was added
so as to differentiate this group of flowers from another genus called Hyacinth and from the mythical Hyacinth flower of Greek mythology
it wasn’t until after the time of Carl that the ‘oides’ was added

*The Death of Hyacinthos painting by Jean Broc*

the genus Hyacinth is composed of flowers that exist in more the Mediterranean and the Middle East
and the mythical Hyacinth flower exists in the world of the Greek Gods
Hyacinth was the name of a beautiful young boy who had won the affections of both Apolo, the mightiest of the gods
and Zephyr, the god of the western wind
Hyacinth was enamored with Apolo and the two were lovers
so, of course, caustic jealously took hold of Zephyr
and
one day
when Hyacinth was running to catch a discus Apolo had thrown
Zephyr spitefully changed the winds
causing the discus to strike and kill Hyacinth
Apolo was so overcome with grief that he could not let Hyacinth be taken away to the underworld
for he was too beautiful for Hades
so Apolo made a flower from the boy’s blood and named it “Hyacinth”
the Greek letters ‘AIAI’, meaning ‘alas’, were inscribed on the petals of the flower by Apolo’s mournful tears

One could even stretch this love story so far as to say that the the flowers maintain a downward, droopy appearance because they live in in mourning of Hyacinth’s passing. Incredible that something so seemingly simple as a species name for a common plant could be so complex and compelling. That is the beauty of language. We have created a way to connect ourselves to both the natural and supernatural, the mortal and immortal all with a few simple words.

Source

Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2016. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyacinthoides_non-scripta?oldformat=true>.