[ 45 ] 
Crocus vernus. Spring Crocus. 
•sMs- 4" 
CI a/s and Order . 
Triandria Mon.ogynia* 
Generic Character. 
Corolla 6-partita, aequalis. Stigmata convoluta. 
Specific Character and Synonyms. 
CROCUS •vernus foliis latioribus margine patulo. J^q. FI. 
Aufir. Vol. 5. app. t. 36. Lin. Syfi. Vegetab. p. 83. 
var. fativ. 
CROCUS vernus latifolius. Bauhi Pin. 65, 66. 
The Yellow Crocus. Parkin/. Parad. p. 166. 
Linnaeus confiders the Crocus, or Saffron of the fhops, 
which blows invariably in the autumn, and the fpring Crocus, 
with its numerous varieties (of which Parkinson, in his 
Garden of Pleafant Flowers, enumerates no lefs than twenty- 
feven) as one and the fame fpecies : other Botanjfts have 
confidered them as diftin£t, particularly Prof. Jacquin, whole 
opinion on this fubjeft we deem the moft decifive. 
We have figured the yellow variety, which is the one moft 
commonly cultivated in our gardens, though according to the 
defcription in the Flora Aufiriaca, the Crocus vernus, in its wild 
ftate^ is ufually purple or white. 
The cultivation of this plant is attended with no difficulty; 
in a light fandy loam, and dry fituation, the roots thrive, and 
multiply fo much as to require frequent reducing; they ufually 
flower about the beginning of March, and whether planted in 
rows, or patches, on the borders of the flower-garden, or 
mixed indilcriminately with the herbage of the lawn, when 
expanded by the warmth of the fun, they produce a moft 
brilliant and exhilirating effect. 
1 he moft mifchievous of all our common birds, the fparrow, 
is very apt to commit great depredations among!! them when 
in flower, to the no fmall mortification of thole who delight 
in their culture; we have fucceeded in keeping, thefe birds oft, 
by placing near the objett to be preferved, the fkin of a cat 
properly ltuffed : a live cat, or fome bird of the hawk kind 
confined in a cage, might perhaps anfwer the purpofe more 
effectually, at lealt in point of duration. 
