All of the Muscari clan are commonly called grape hyacinths. But the little blue bottles that naturalize in the south are specifically starch hyacinths, because one writer thought their scent was like fresh starch. Most of the grape hyacinths listed in bulb catalogs are Muscari botryoides or Muscari armeniacum. These produce much showier flowers, but they disappear after a couple of years. I was once tempted to buy Muscari plumosum; it was lovely but it did not come back the second year.

The lowest blossoms open first, revealing a rim of white teeth as they expand. Scott Ogden. Garden Bulbs for the South

The leaves of the starch hyacinths appear in late fall, much earlier than any other bulb. This makes them an excellent plant for marking the spots where other bulbs are planted.The foot-long leaves become rather straggly and out of proportion to the little flowers.

The color is very dark, blackish blue, and the pinched bells show their white teeth distinctly...The leaves are linear and deeply channeled and nearly a foot long. Louise Beebe Wilder. Adventures with Hardy Bulbs