Flag and Crocus 313 
appear in the fall of the year whilst the leaves lie 
dormant within the sheathing bracts until the 
following spring. This species produces but one 
flower to each bundle of leaves, but the Vernal 
Crocus produces several ; 
in both species these are 
purple, though the Vernal 
issometimeswhite. There 
is rather a singular point 
in the colouration of the 
flowers: in nearly every 
species of Crocus known ‘ 
the throat of the flower- 
tube is more or less orange 
in colour, and this coloura- 
tion extends only to that 
part of the interior upon 
which the pollen falls 
from the anthers. Mr. 
Maw suggests that this 
golden zone may be “an 
inherited character from 
the mere mechanical tinc- 
ture of the fuller orange 
pollen-grains.” This may 
well be, seeing that the . ¥ 
colour lies round the en- | bith 
trance to the honey-tube ve 
and that such a honey-guide may have proved advan- 
tageous to the individuals first exhibiting it. In both 
our species the anthers and stigmas are orange or 
yellow. The stamens stand up against the style, the 
anthers open along their outer faces, and the stigmas 
Vernal Crocus 
