1987. 
* CROCUS pusillus. 
Tiny Crocus. 
TRIANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 
Nat. ord. IRIDACEZ. 
CROCUS. Suprà, vol. 17. fol. 1416. 
C. pusillus ; tunicis cormi basi cireumscissis leevibus, sepalis petalisque diversi- 
* eoloribus erectis incurvis, fauce nudà, stigmatibus spathulatis cucullatim 
convolutis indivisis (staminibus longioribus). j 
C. pusillus, Tenore Fl. Nap. 3. 33. € Mem. sopr. Croch. p. €42. 
_Gussone fl. sic. 1. 30. Ten. syllog. 28. 
C. biflorus var c. Tenorii. Reichenb. fl. eżcurs. 1784. 
C. Tenorii. Gay in Bull. univ. Jul. 1837, sec. Tenorium. 
Nothing can well be more agreeable to a Botanist than 
to trace with certainty the origin of a garden plant, which, 
after centuries of domestication, has lost all record of its 
origin, and much trace of its native aspect. Even in the 
case of a Crocus, such an enquiry is far from uninteresting. 
We have had in the gardens, time out of mind, what is 
called the Scotch Crocus, to which the equally unintelligible 
name of C. biflorus was first given in his Dictionary by Miller, 
who only knew that it was unquestionably a peculiar species. 
It was neglected by Linnaeus and his followers, and is not 
even adverted to in Willdenow's Species plantarum, or Per- 
soon's Synopsis. It is, however, admitted into Romer and 
Schultes's Systema Vegetabilium, upon the authority of the 
Hortus Kewensis, but is supposed to bea variety of C. vernus, 
and its native country is said to be unknown. In one of the 
iiia: A — 
* See folio 1416. 
