300 THE STORY OF PLANT LIFE 



There is no aerial stem. The corm, which has a 

 fibrous sheathing coat of scaly leaves, the fibres 

 slender, reticulate, with a membranous border, is 

 broad and flattened. In the axils buds arise, which 

 produce new corms on the old. The sheaths are 

 torn, dirty brown, and form a tube enclosing the 

 leaves and scape at the base. The leaves are pro- 

 duced at the same time as the flowers (hence vernus). 

 They are arranged around the stem with an upper 

 and lower face, or are dorsi-ventral. The tissues 

 have palisade-cells above and spongy parenchyma 

 below. The leaves are rolled up when young to 

 protect them from frost. 



There are few (or solitary) flowers, which are violet- 

 purple. The spathe is simple. The corolla has a 

 fringe of hairs in the throat. The perianth-tube is 

 very long. The perianth-lobes are white or purple. 

 The anthers are pale bright-yellow. The stigmas 

 are deep orange, branched, three-fid, with erect, 

 wedge-shaped lobes, toothed or jagged at the end, 

 swollen at the top. The subterranean ovary is 

 stalkless on the bulb, protected from frost. The 

 capsule is on a long slender stalk, half an inch broad. 

 The seeds are rounded, small, and reddish. 



In height the Purple Crocus is 3 to 6 in. The 

 flowers appear in April and May. The plant is a 

 herbaceous perennial. 



The anthers are ripe in advance of the stigmas. 

 Being long-tubed the flowers are adapted to butter- 

 flies, and bees. Honey is secreted by the ovary. 



