CROCOSMA 



THE BULB BOOK 



CllOCUS 



the oblong-acute segments being 

 banded with red on the back. {Hot. 

 Miifj. t. 2121; Lodd. Bot. Cab. t. 

 668 ; Red. Lil. t. 62 ; And. Bot. Rep. 

 t. 390.) 



C. zeyla,nicujn (C . lie rbei'tianum ; C. 

 Wallichiniium ; Amavj/llis zeylanica). 

 —This species is widely distributed 

 in Trojiical Africa and Tropical Asia, 

 and seems to have been known since 

 1697. It has short-necked bulbs 5 to 

 6 ins. in diameter, and bright green 

 strap-shaped leaves 2 to 3 ft. long, 3 

 to 4 ins. broad, and slightly scabrous 

 on the edges. The stout, reddish 

 peduncle, 2 to 3 ft. high, bears ten to 

 twenty large sweet-scented flowers, 

 the segments of which are broadly 

 banded with bright red outside. The 

 variety rediictimi, from Zanzibar, has 

 leaves only 1 to 1 J^ ft. long, and about 

 2 ins. broad. (Bot. Mag. t. 1171, as 

 Amaryllis orimta.) 



CROCOSMA {crocus, safi'ron ; osme, 

 smell ; in allusion to the odour when 

 the dried flowers are immersed in 

 warm water). Nat. Ord. Iridese. 



C. aurea {Tritonia atwea).— The 

 only species in the genus is a beauti- 

 ful garden plant from S. Africa, with 

 flbrous-coatcd corms and narrow 

 sword-like leaves about 1 ft. long. 

 The bright orange-red blossoms are 

 borne during the summer and autumn 

 months on winged stems about 2 ft. 

 high. The perianth has a cylindrical 

 incurved, slender tube, and oblong 

 segments. The variety imperialis 

 has numerous beautiful fiery orange- 

 red blossoms almost twice as large as 

 those of the type, and borne on taller 

 stems. The variety mactdata has 

 also large orange-red flowers, the 

 three inner segments of the perianth 

 having a red-brown blotch near the 

 base. {Bot. Mn<j. tt. 61, 433.') ; Fl. d. 

 Serr. t. 702 ; (Jard. Chron. 1888, v. 4, 

 fig. 80.) 



1 



CULTUKE AND PROPAGATION.— This 



plant, better known in gardens as 

 Tritonia aurea, is often cultivated in 

 greenhouses. In the more favourable 

 parts of the Kingdom, however, it 

 can be grown in the open air, and 

 makes a charming border flower, 

 useful for cutting. A light, rich 

 loamy soil with the addition of peat 

 and leaf-mould suits it very well, and 

 in favourable spots it spreads rapidly 

 by moans of creeping rhizomes. The 

 plants may remain undisturbed for 

 two or three seasons, merely covering 

 them with a layer of leaves or litter 

 during hard frosts. In colder 

 localities, however, it is safer to lift 

 the corms when the leaves have 

 begun to wither — say about the 

 middle of November — and store them 

 in sand ; or better still, pot them up, 

 as they do not like being " dried ofl"" 

 too much. They may be replanted 

 in the spring. The young ofi"sets 

 may be detached and grown by them- 

 selves until large enough for making 

 clumps in the border. Seeds may be 

 sown when ripe in cold frames, and 

 grown for a year before putting 

 outside. 



CROCUS (a Chaldean name for 

 saftron, used by Theophrastus about 

 370 B.C.). Nat. Ord. Irideae.— This 

 genus contains about 100 species of 

 plants having fibrous-coated, fleshy 

 corms, from which arise narrow, 

 channelled leaves and erect, funnel- 

 shaped flowers Avrapped in one or 

 two semi-transparent spathcs, and 

 remarkable for a long slender tube ; 

 for the three stamens inserted at the 

 throat, and for the stigma being 

 divided into three branches or 

 stigmata. 



Oenerally speaking, the greater 



number of species of Crocuses are 



unknown outside botanic gardens 



or some private collections where 



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