Tas. 6416. 
CROCUS VITELLINUS. 
Native of Syria and Asia Minor. 
Nat. Ord. Intpackm.—Tribe Ixiex. 
Genus Crocus, Towrnef.; (Baker in Journ. Linn. Soe. vol. xvi. p. 79.) 
Crocus vitellinus ; hyemalis, tunicis exterioribus brunneis in fibras parallelas 
deorsum dissolutis, spatha basali nulla, foliis 5-6 synanthiis anguste 
linearibus albo vittatis, spathd propria diphylla, perianthii tubo citrino 
2-3-pollicari, fauce concolori glabro, limbi aurei concoloris subpollicaris seg- 
mentis oblongo-spathulatis, antheris citrinis filamento glabro subsequi- 
longis, styli fulvo-lutei ramis permultis capillaceis divaricatis. 
C. vitellinus, Wahlenb. in Isis, vol. xxi. p. 106; Baker in Gard. Chron. 1873, 
p- 680; in Journ. Linn. Soc. vol. xvi. p. 84. 
C. syriacus, Boiss. et Gaill. in Boiss. Diagn. ser. 2, vol. iv. p. 94. 
C. Balansew, J. Gay in Balans. Pl. Orient. Busic. anno 1854, No. 34. 
Var. syriacus ; limbi segmentis dorso atro lineatis. (tab. nostr. fig. 3.) 
C. syriacus, Baker in Gard. Chron. et Journ. Linn. Soe. loc cit. 
C. lagenzeflorus var. (?) syriacus, Herb. in Journ. Hort. Soc. vol. ii. p. 282. 
This is the only yellow-flowered Crocus of the section with 
a much-divided style. It is an inhabitant of Syria and Asia 
Minor, and now that we possess a fuller supply of material 
it seems clear that, as was first suggested by Mr. G. Maw, 
syriacus and vitellinus are only two forms of one and the same 
species, one with a striped, and the other with a concolorous 
perianth-limb. We have the type from several places on the 
western slope towards Saida and Beyrout of the Lebanon 
range, where it was discovered by a Swedish traveller called 
Berggren in 1820, and also from the neighbourhood of 
Smyrna,* where it was found by Balansa in 1854. Of the 
striped variety there is a specimen in the Banksian herbarium, 
gathered about Aleppo a hundred years ago by Dr. Russell, 
and it has been lately refound in the same neighbourhood by 
Dr. Haussknecht, and in the Cilician Taurus, by Mr. and 
Mrs. Danford. The plant tlowers from November to March 
* Mr. G. Maw, who has also gathered this, thinks it may prove a distinct 
species, as although growing at a low level it flowers as late as March.—See 
ard. Chron. 1879, p. 234. 
MARCH Ist, 1879. 
