HISTORY AND LITERATURE. 39 



which there are several editions in Latin, Dutch, and English, and of which there 

 are rarely found two copies exactly alike, the flowers are arranged in four parts, 

 spring, summer, autumn, and winter; on plate 5 (Spring) are figured: — 



. Crocus ncapolitanus fl. purp. major. 



. Crocus vernus purpureas minor, named Lenten Saffron in the English edition. 



Both of these are probably C. vernus. 

 On plate 23, Autumnal, 



Crocus fragrans, or C. vulgaris, which is C.sa/ivus; and C. montanus. 



On plate 24, Autumnal, 



Crocus byzantinus. 



Crocus montanus hispanicus, which is probably C. nudiflorus. 



On plate 7.d., Winter, are four varieties, including what appear to be single 

 and double varieties of C. biflorus ("Silverlack"), and of C. susianus ("Goldlack"). 



The engravings are highly finished, and are from drawings made by Van 

 du Pas from the living plants, obtained at Utrecht, Amsterdam, Haarlem, and 

 Leyden; shewing that the five or six species figured, were in the early part of the 

 seventeenth century widely cultivated in Dutch Gardens. 



1 62 1. — Dopes inemptae of de Moufe-Schans, by Petrus Hond, published at 

 Leyden in 1621, (a curious octavo volume of 634 pages,) contains a description, in 

 Dutch verses, of the agreeable life at a country seat, with a list of names and 

 descriptions of all the wild and cultivated plants then found at de Moufe-Schans, 

 belonging to John Serlippius, formerly Burgomaster at Axel. At p. 98-100, the 

 verses are devoted to the "Soffraen" Crocus. Amongst the spring flowering sorts, 

 C. vermis, biflorus, susianus, aureus, and sulphureus can be identified; and amongst 

 the autumnals, with which are confounded colchicums, he, the true Saffron is 

 referred to as being cultivated in sufficient quantities in Zeeland, rendering it un- 

 necessary to import Saffron from England. 



1672.— Abraham Munting in Waare Oeffening der Planten, Chapter CLXVIII, 

 p. 380, Edition of 1672, enumerates a number of forms of Crocuses, amongst which 



1*1*- to 



can be identified, vernus, biflorus, susianus, and the old yellow forms derived from 

 C. aureus; also C. sativus. He also gives instructions for cultivation; and in his 

 Naauwkeurige Beschryving der Aardgewassen, published at Leyden in 1696, he repeats 

 the cultural directions, and devotes a chapter to the medicinal uses of Crocus. In 

 this he refers to Crocus persicus odoratus flore pleno a/bo, et rubra variegato, the sweet 



