( 2240 ) 



Crocus vernus, y. obovatus. Largest 

 Purple Spring Crocus. 



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Class and Order. 

 Triandria Monogynia. 



Generic Character. 



Spatha plerumque 2-valvis : valvula interior multo an- 

 gustior. Cor. infundibuliformis : Tubus longissimus, basi 

 subterraneus : Limbus 6-partitus, regularis. Stigmata 3. 



Specific Character and Synonyms. 



Crocus vernus; corollas fauce pilis glandulosis clausa. Hort. 



Kew. ed. alt. 1. p. 80. Bot. Mag. 860. ubi synonyma 



petenda. 

 (a.) communis; laciniis erectis conniventibus ovato-lanceo- 



latis. 

 Crocus vernus. English Bot. 344. Redoute Liliac 266. 

 (|3.) neapolitanus ; laciniis ovatis, stigmatibus anther as su- 



perantibus. 

 Crocus vernus, (3. neapolitanus. Bot. Mag. 860. 

 (y.) obovatus ; laciniis obovatis obtusissimis crenulatis, an- 



theris stigmata superantibus. 

 Crocus obovatus ; piliger, laciniis rolundato-obovatis inflato- 



incurvis Iateribus alte imbricatis, stigmatibus latissimis. 



Haworth in Trans. Horticult. Soc. 1. p. 133. 



Mr. Haworth, who communicated the plant from which 

 our drawing was taken., considers it as a species distinct from 

 vernus, of which Mr. Ker, to whose authority we are inclined 

 to submit, makes it only a variety. But as the latter botanist 

 has inserted the length of the stigmas extending beyond the 

 anthers, as a character of vernus, the anthers in our plant 

 exceeding the stigmas in length might be regarded as estab- 

 lishing a sufficient specific distinction, provided this character 

 should be found to be constant, which however we very much 

 doubt. 



Whether 



