Tas. 6453. 
CHIONODOXA nana. 
Native of Crete. 
Nat. Ord. Lin1acem.—Tribe HyacInTHEZ. 
Genus Co1onopoxa, Boiss.; (Baker in Journ. Linn. Soe. vol. xi. p. 435.) 
CHIonopoxa xana; bulbo minimo ovoideo tunicis membranaceis exterioribus 
brunneis, foliis 2 linearibus suberectis viridibus facie canaliculatis apice 
cucullatis, scapo gracili tereti foliis breviori, floribus 1-4 laxe corymbosis, pedi- 
cellis ascendentibus, bracteis obsoletis, perianthii albo-ceerulei 5-6 lin. longi 
tubo campanulato, segmentis oblongis patulis tubo 2-3-plo brevioribus, stami- 
nibus segmentis subtriplo brevioribus, antheris breviter protrusis, ovario globoso, 
stylo brevissimo. 
C. nana, Boiss. & Held. in Boiss. Diagn. I. part xiii. p.24; Baker in Journ. Linn. 
Soc. loe. cit. 
Hyacinthus nanus, Roem. et Schultes Syst. Veg. vol. vii. p. 581; Kunth Enum. 
vol. iv. p. 304. 
Puschkinia scilloides, Sieber Reise Crete, vol. ii. p- 319, tab. 7, non Adams. 
This, the oldest-known species of Chionodoxa, is a native 
of the mountains of Crete, at an altitude of five thousand 
or six thousand feet above sea-level, flowering in the neigh- 
bourhood of the melting snow in May, and consequently 
perfectly hardy in our English gardens. It was discovered 
by Sieber, an Austrian traveller who collected plants largely 
in the island about the year 1820, and who confounded it 
with the Caucasian Puschkinia scilloides, and figured it 
under that name in his published travels. For horticul- 
tural purposes it is far inferior to CO. Lucilie (Bot. Mag. 
tab. 6433), the flower being much smaller, and the whole 
habit of the plant more slender. Our drawing was made 
from plants that flowered in the herbaceous ground at Kew 
in May of the present year, which were raised from bulbs 
that were sent to us by Mr. Elwes. | 
Descr. Bulb ovoid, under half an inch in diameter, the 
tunics very thin and membranous, the outer brown, the 
OcToBER Ist, 1879. 
