A MONOGRAPH OF 



THE GENUS CROCUS 



CHAPTER I. 



LIFE-HISTORY AND PHYSIOLOGY. 



TN commencing the life-history, it will be convenient to begin with the corm 

 J- during the short period of rest, at about the latter end of July, intervening be- 

 tween the dying away of the vernal foliage and the commencement of the ensuing 



season's growth. 



This period of rest may be counted by days rather than by weeks or months; for 

 scarcely has the life-course of one season ended, than the new growth of the ensuing 

 season commences; every living part of a crocus is annually reproduced, and in one 

 sense there is no continuity of life within each organ. The corm tunic is the only 

 permanent record of perennial existence, and even this in its living state lasts but 



a year. 



Corm. The corm (Plate A, figs. 1-6), newly matured, is in form an irregular 

 spheroid of from a quarter of an inch (0.0063 Metre) to an inch and a half (0.038 

 Metre,) in diameter, with depressions at its apex and base; these depressions are 

 somewhat obscured by the corm tunic, which from being produced loosely above the 

 corm summit, gives it the appearance of being higher in proportion to its width 

 than is actually the case. The width of the corm, independently of the tunics, is 

 always greater 'than its height; and in two or three species, e.g. C. zonatus (Plate IV) 

 and C. ochrokucus (Plate XI), the width of the corm is nearly double its height, and 

 it is discoid in form. In C. gargaricus (Plate XXXIX), the corm is almost spherical, 

 and exceptionally small, rarely exceeding a quarter (0.0063 Metre) or three-eighths 



