1987 



CROCUS pusillus. 



Tiny Crocus. 



TRIANDRIA MOKOGY^IA. 



Nat. ord. IridacEjE. 



CROCUS. Supra, vol. M.fol. 1416. 



C. pusillus ; tuiiicis cormi basi circiimsclssis la^vibus, sepalis petalis(|iie iliversi- 

 coloribus erectis incurvis, fauee nuda, sligmatil)us spathulatis cuciillatiiu 

 convolutis liulivisis (slaminibus longioribus). 



C. pusillus. Tenore Fl. Nap. 3. 33. " Me7n. snpr. Crock, p. 8. t. 2." 

 Gussone Jl. sic. 1. 30. Ten. syllog. 28. 



C. biHoriis var c. Tenorii. Reichenb. Jl. cxcurs. I. 84. 



C. Tenorii. Gai/ in Bull. univ. Jul. 1837, sec. Tenorium. 



Nothing can well l)e more agreeable to a Botanist than 

 to trace with certainty the origin of a garden plant, which, 

 after centuries of domestication, has lost all record of its 

 origin, and mush trace of its native aspect. Even in the 

 case of a Crocus, such an enquiry is far from uninteresting. 



We have had in the gardens, time out of mind, what is 

 called the Scotch Crocus, to which the equally unintelligible 

 name of C. biflorus was first given in his Dictionary by Miller, 

 who only knew that it was unquestionably a peculiar species. 

 It was neglected by Linneeus and his followers, and is not 

 even adverted to in Willdenow's Species plantarum, or Per- 

 soon's Synopsis. It is, however, admitted into Romer and 

 Schultes's Systema Vegetabilium, upon the authority of the 

 Hortus Kewensis, but is supposed to be a variety of C. vernus, 

 and its native country is-said to be unknown. In one of the 



» See folio 1416. 



