232 miDEvE— IRIS TRIBE 



ascribed to Apicius, represents, according to Beckmann, that saffron was 

 employed as a perfume ; and modern travellers describe it as still so used in 

 the East. In Cornwall it is very largely and generally used as a colouring 

 and flavouring for cakes and buns, and no tea-table is considered furnished 

 without saffron cake. To most visitors from other counties the flavour is 

 distinctly objectionable. 



Saffron is necessarily a costly drug ; for as the stigma only of the Crocus 

 should be used in making it, great labour is incurred. It is often adulterated 

 with the florets of the safflower and the garden marigold ; but these are 

 wanting in the aromatic and stimulant properties, as well as in the colouring 

 matter of the true saffron ; this last being known to chemists as a peculiar 

 proximate principle, called polychroite. The Crocus tribe are all liable to 

 the destruction of their roots by a parasitic fungus, termed Death-mould, or 

 in France, Mort de Safran. In that country whole fields of the Crocus are 

 destroyed by it. The English saffron is more valued than that of foreign 

 growth. 



5. Naked-flowering Crocus (0. nudiflur us). —Flowers solitary, 

 appearing before the leaves; spathe simple ; stigma erect, within the flower, 

 and with several deep slender divisions, toothed at the broad tips ; corm 

 almost globose, with a membranous coat. This Crocus grows in a large 

 meadow near Nottingham Castle, about Warwick, Warrington, Halifax, and 

 other places, but is not considered truly wild ; yet the conditions under which 

 it occurs are so parallel to the cases of the bird's-eye primrose, the oxlip, 

 and the snake's-head lily, as Mr. W. B. Crump has lately shown, that it 

 appears to be either a native or an introduced species that has been naturalized 

 for several centuries. It bears purple flowers during September and October, 

 and the leaves appear the following spring. The whole of the Crocus genus 

 have their seed-vessels, in the early stage, concealed beneath the ground, at 

 the base of the long leaves ; but on the withering of the flowers, the fruit- 

 stalk rises, and brings them to the sun and air to ripen. 



Order LXXXV. AMARYLLIDE^^ AMARYLLIS TRIBE. 



Perianth 6-parted ; stamens six, arising from the base of the segments, 

 and sometimes united below by their filaments; ovary inferior, 3-celled; 

 style 1 ; stigmas 1 or 3 ; fruit a many-seeded capsule, or a berry containing 

 from one to three seeds. This order diff"ers chiefly from Iridese in its anthers, 

 which burst inwards, whereas those of that order open outwardly. It consists 

 mostly of herbaceous plants, with perennial bulbous rootstocks, leaves arising 

 from the bulb, and handsome blossoms. 



1. Daffodil (Narcissus). — Perianth tubular at the base, spreading at the 

 top, and cut into six segments, with a cup-shaped or bell-shaped crown or 

 nectary, within which are the stamens ; flowers from a spathe. Named 

 from the youth Narcissus of the ancient poets. 



2. Snowdrop (Gakhithus). — Perianth of six pieces, three outer ones 

 spreading; three inner ones smaller, erect, and notched; flowers from a 

 spathe. Name from the Greek gala, milk, and anthos, a flower. 



