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I 



CHAPTER II. 



CLASSIFICATION AND SEQUENCE. 



N attempting a natural grouping and sequence of the species, a difficulty at 

 once presents itself in the large number of well-marked characters possessed 

 by individual species, which as it were interlace and overlap amongst the other 

 species of the genus. Community of character in one organ, thus brings together 

 a different set of species to those which would be associated by the common 

 characters of another organ. For instance, if we take the structure of the corm- 

 tunic as a basis for classification, it would group together species that would be 

 widely separated by the character of the stigmata; again, the stigmatic characters 

 brino- together in close proximity species which have obviously little natural affinity. 

 This difficulty, which presents itself in many genera, seems especially prominent in 

 the o-enus Crocus; and the following tabular analysis shews that the concurrent 

 grouping of several common characters is almost entirely absent, excepting in very 

 small and isolated sections; and it will be apparent that no one method of classi- 

 fication will enable the species to be arranged in strictly natural sequence, or without 

 making obvious gaps, which some other method would more easily bridge over. 

 Any arrangement of the species of the genus must therefore be based on a joint 

 view of all the characters. 



The first attempt at classification was by A. H. Haworth, in his account of 

 the genus Crocus, read before the Horticultural Society of London, on February 

 the 7th., 1800, and published at page 122 of the first volume of the Horticultural 

 Transactions. In this he grouped the genus under two sections he termed Piligeri 

 and Depilati, including respectively the species with bearded and unbearded throats; 

 this distinctive character, however, runs in no way parallel with any other well- 

 marked character in the species of the genus. 



In 1829, Joseph Sabine, Secretary of the Horticultural Society of London, in 

 his paper, An account of the Crocuses Cultivated in the Society s Garden, read January 



