CROCUS—CROWN IMPERIAI-—CUMMINGIA, 71 
flower when our gardens are filled with flowers useful 
for cutting, more showy, and in every sense more 
attractive. However beautiful a flower may be in its 
grassy bed, if it cannot be made to appear beautiful as a 
cut flower, it has but a small place in the garden. The 
species of this class are: 
C. sativus (Saffron Crocus).—A very handsome 
plant, with flowers of a pale purple or violet, readily dis- 
tinguished from all the other species, by the prominence 
of its stigmas. These stigmas, when dried, form the 
saffron of commerce. The flowers and leaves of the 
Saffron Crocus appear simultaneously in September. It 
is a very ornamental species, and requires no further 
care than planting in spring in any good garden soil, its 
preference being for one of a sandy nature. 
C. serotinus.—A purple-flowered species from 
the Crimea, occasionally found among the rocks by the 
sea shore in Portugal. 
C. speciosus (Showy Crocus).—The most beauti- 
ful of all the Crocuses, from the large size of its flowers, 
which appear, in October, without the leaves; the latter 
are not protruded until the flowers are withered. The 
withered flowers remain on the plant till the ripening of 
the seed, which takes place the following April or May. 
It differs from all other Crocuses, in thriving under the 
shade of trees, and in preferring a situation near the 
water. 
CROWN IMPERIAL. 
See Fritilleria. 
CUMMINGIA. 
A synonym of Conanthera. See Page 61. 
CYANELLA. 
A genus of very pretty little Cape of Good Hope 
bulbs, with white, blue, yellow and red flowers, appear- 
