CROCUS ZONATUS. 87 



Crocus zonatus is a high alpine species, limited to the mountains of Cilicia 

 north of the Cilician Gates, the Pylcc Cilicia of classical authors, and the Lebanon. 

 It appears have been first discovered by Th. Kotschy in 1853. In the De Candolle 

 herbarium at Geneva there are specimens labelled C. ciliciais Kotschy, " C. specioso 

 Jlf. B. affinis," southern declivities of Dasch Olug, Tschidem Goli, and Bulgar 

 Magara, alt. 8000 feet, 31st of August, and 22nd of September, 1853." In other 

 herbaria the same label accompanies specimens of the blue form of C. canccllatus 

 from the same district. 



Balansa again collected the species on September 22nd, 1855, on the alpine 

 part of Jokmus Koty, and Kara Kapu, near the source of the river Irmak Goos, 

 (Cydric) at an altitude of 7400 feet. 



M. Boissier's herbarium contains a Crocus which is apparently identical with 

 Balansa's plant, collected by Blanche, in October, 1864, on the road from Dunan 

 to Hasrun, in the Lebanon. 



The range of the species is a limited one, and the recorded habitats are 

 within 34° 10' and 36° 40' north latitude, and 34° 20' and 36 o' east longitude. I 

 have also received corms of C. zonatus from Dr. Kerner, supposed to have been 

 collected by Porta, in meadows close to the sea south of Otranto, in Italy. In 

 a letter from Signor Porta, he tells me that he remembers digging up some bulbs 

 there, which he supposed at the time were those of a Romulea. The low elevation, 

 and far removed distance of seventeen degrees, renders the occurrence of C. zonatus 

 in Southern Italy highly improbable; and it would seem that some mistake has 

 occurred in the transposition of labels in the Botanic Garden at Innsbruck. 



I have had some difficulty in deciding the question of priority of the names 

 applied to this species; respecting which Baker, who in 1873 described the plant 

 as C. zonatus, and in 1878 as Koischyanus, seems also to have been in doubt. I 

 have come to the conclusion that the name Kotscliyanus is inadmissible, as in 1846 

 it had been applied by Herbert to a variety of C. canccllatus from the Taurus, 

 and therefore should not have been given to another species more recently known. 



Tchihatcheff in i860, Klatt in 1865, and Baker in 1873, adopted Gay's 

 herbarium name of zonatus. 



Crocus zonatus is one of the earliest autumnal species, the flowers immediately 

 succeeding those of C. Scharojani, and C. vallicola: from the middle to the end of 

 September, and into October. The rosy-lilac flowers with the bright golden throat 

 are, when expanded, objects of remarkable beauty. As in most of the early 

 autumnal species, they appear above ground with a rapid growth, and soon pass 

 away. This species is nearest allied to C. vallicola, and C. Scharojani of Asia 

 Minor and the Caucasus; the remarkable structure of the leaf with an exceptionally 

 broad keel, and the pale cream-coloured anthers and pollen grains are common 



