1416 
CRÓCUS* vernus ; var. leucorhyncus. 
Pheasants Feather Crocus. 
TRIANDRIA MONOGY NIA. 
Nat. ord. In1pEx Jussieu. (Introduction to the natural system of 
Botany, p. 260.) 
CROCUS Linn.—Spatha plerumque bivalvis, valvula interiore multó 
angustiore. Calyx tegularis, tripartitus, petaloideus, infundibularis, laciniis 
dorso seepids penicillatis. Corolla pauld minor, 3-partita, conformis, 
laciniis dorso seepiits unicoloribus. Tubus longissimus basi subterraneus. 
Stigma profunde trifidum, laciniis convolutis. Herbe perennes, cormose, 
acaules. Folia linearia, marginibus reflexis. Flores speciosi, albi, lutei 
v. purpurei. 
GARDEN VARIETY. 
There is scarcely a tribe of Garden flowers that 
abounds more with beautiful varieties than the Spring 
Crocuses, and especially the species to which the name 
vernal has been exclusively applied. This comprehends all 
those the throat of whose flower is bearded with short 
hairs ; by which character a great number of extremely dis- 
similar forms are brought together, differing in the breadth 
and form of the segments of the calyx and corolla, and in 
the manner in which the latter are respectively coloured, 
but agreeing in being all either white or purple, never 
yellow. An account of them is given by Mr. Sabine, in 
the Transactions of the Horticultural Society, from which 
we extract what relates to the variety before us. 
* The Saffron, xgóxos of the Greeks, was one of the first plants that 
acquired a name in the earliest periods of the world. Solomon mentions it 
as one of the sweet-smelling herbs that the garden of his bride was planted 
with; Homer speaks of it with the lotus and the fragrant hyacinth; and 
Virgil enumerates the rubens crocus among the sweet flowers from which 
his bees collected honey. The word is thought to have been derived from 
xgóxn, yarn; in allusion to the resemblance of its stigmas to threads spun 
from wool. 
