]0 THE GENUS CROCUS. 



basal spathe to each scape. The proper spathe, springing from the base of the 

 ovary, consists of one or two membranous, or slightly foliaceous organs of the nature 

 of bracts, one of which is tubular; the inner spathe when present is generally ligulate. 

 When one spathe only is present, it is invariably tubular to within a short distance 

 of its summit. The presence of one or of two proper spathes is an almost constant 

 character, and valuable in the determination of species. The absence or presence 

 of a basal spathe seems to be directly correlated with a double or a single proper 

 spathe respectively: of the thirty-eight species of the Nudiflori, all have a double 

 proper spathe with the exception of two species, C. gargaricus and C. cyprius; and of 

 the thirty-one species of the Involucrati, twenty-five have a single proper spathe, 

 and six only, zonatus, Cambessedesii, Malyi, minimus, sativus, and hadriaticus have a 



double proper spathe. 



The proper spathes, excepting in one or two species, always exceed the 

 sheathing-leaves, and environ the tube to within an inch (0.025 Metre) or an inch 

 and a half (0.038 Metre) of the throat. 



Perianth. The Tube is invariably cylindrical, varying in the different species 

 from two and a half (0.063 Metre) to six inches (0.150 Metre) in length, and 

 generally partaking in its upper exposed portion of the colouring of the flower, the 

 markings of which are produced down the tube. The awn-like process from the 

 summit of the capsule is merely the remnant of the base of the tube, intertwined 

 with the dead remnant of the proper spathe. 



The throat is of special interest in relation to specific character, as the presence 

 or absence of the beard, a small bunch of transparent hairs at the base of the 

 filament, is a good distinctive specific character, so invariably constant that Ha- 

 worth, in 1809, used it for grouping the genus in two sections which he termed 

 Piligeri and Depilati. 



The throat internally is almost invariably more or less orange; there are few 

 species in which the orange or yellow stain is not to some degree present. In 

 albinos, where the general flower-colouring is blotted out, the orange colour of the 

 throat is still retained; and in the albinos of one or two species that are uniformly 

 orange, the orange of the throat is constant. 



In those species with orange filaments, the orange colour of the throat is more 

 marked than in species with white filaments. The orange colour cells of the throat 

 appear to be on the inner surface only; though the orange colour is generally to 

 some extent visible externally. The orange of the throat is nicely limited to where 

 the fallen pollen grains accumulate; and as these have a strong power of staining, 

 the eolden zone of the throat may be a character inherited from the tincture of 

 the fallen grains; analogous to the bleaching and zonal colouring of the hair and 

 feathers round the orifices of the bodies of many animals, which suggest to the eye 



