Tas. 6168. 
CROCUS €rewer. 
Native of the Greek Archipelago. 
Nat. Ord. Irnipem.—Tribe Ix1ez. 
Genus Crocus, Tourn. ; (Klatt in Linnea, vol. xxxiv. p. 674). 
Crocus Crewei ; cormo ovoideo-globoso, tunicis basi truncatis levigatis, ex- 
terioribus brevioribus in vaginam fissam basim foliorum cirgentem 
productis, rete e fibris tenuissimis dense intertextis, foliis binis ver- 
nalibus flores vix superantibus zy poll. latis canaliculatis, costa alba, 
spatha 2-phylla 1-flore, interiore anguste lineari, exteriore tubum 
perianthii vaginante, perianthii tubo 2-pollicari albo lineis 6 purpureis 
striato, limbo albo pollicari, segmentis oblongo-lanceolatis acutis ex- 
terioribus lineis 3 purpureis notato, interioribus estriatis, fauce luteo 
glabro, antheris purpureis filamentis luteis equilongis stigmatibus 
_linearibus integerrimis. 
Allied to C. diforus (Tab. nost. 845), but very distinct in 
many characters, and with the corm of C./evigatus, Bory, whilst 
differing from these and all other known species in the purple 
anthers. It is remarkable that so distinct an undescribed 
plant should inhabit Syra, the best known of all the Greek 
islands, and one which has long been the coaling station for 
the Mediterranean steamers, whence the traffic diverges in 
one direction to Smyrna, and in the other to Constantinople 
and the Black Sea. This fact shows how much remains still 
to be done towards the investigation of the bulbous plants of 
the Levant, and especially in respect of such genera as 
Crocus, whose flowers are very fugacious. 
Crocus Crewei is a discovery of the gentleman, H. G. 
Elwes, Esq., F.L.S., to whom’ horticulture is indebted for 
the introduction of many new Oriental bulbs, including 
the Galanthus figured in the last number of this Magazine 
(Tab. 6166). Mr. Elwes collected seeds and corms of it on 
hills about 1000 feet high, growing with C. Boryi, and 
flowering very early, and transmitted corms to the Rev. H. 
Harper Crewe, who flowered them at the Rectory, Drayton 
Beauchamp, in March of the present year. At Mr. Elwes's 
JUNE Ist, 1875. ~ 
