1193 



CR6cUS Imperati. 



Tmperato's Crocus. 



TRIANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 



Nat. Ord. Iridace^. 



CROCUS. Supri, vol. 17. fol. 1416. 



Imperati; tunicis radicalibus membranaceo-filatncntosis, foliis proteranthiis 

 glaucescentibus basi latioribus deflexis, scapo supra basim vaginifero, spatlia 

 duplici opaca, corolla; tubi campanulati laciniis ovalibus obtusis emarginatis, 

 fauce nuda aurantiaca, stigmate incluso trifido staminibus longiore lobis 

 cuneiformibus incisis crenulatis, capsula oblonga acuminata 6-striata, semi- 

 nibus fulvis reticulato-erosis altero latere cxcavatis. Tenore sylloy. p. 28. 



For the specimens of this charming plant I am indebted 

 to the Hon. W. F. Strangways, who has furnished me with 

 the following note upon it. 



" Crocus Imperati, so named by Professor Tenore, after an 

 old Italian Botanist Imperato, is, perhaps, the most beautiful 

 of the genus. It varies greatly in the size of the flower, 

 which is sometimes very large, and rises from a double 

 spathe; the bulb, which is covered with irregularly inter- 

 woven fibres, is comparatively small. 



" Although it belongs properly to the set of vernal cro- 

 cuses, it seems to connect them with the autumnal, beginning 

 to flower in the middle of winter. It is fortunate that, flower- 

 ing at such a season, it requires less sun to expand its blos- 

 soms than any other species. 



" It increases readily by seed, which ripens in May. 

 The diflTuse character of its leaves, wliich are of a dark green, 

 and appear long before the flower, is one of its distinguish- 

 ing marks : seen before the buds appear, they miglit be 

 taken rather for the leaves of some autumnal species that had 

 done flowering, than for those of a spring crocus coming on. 



l2 



