t o THE GENUS CROCUS. 



the cultivated Saffron; indeed there is nothing to distinguish it from the type 

 except that the pistil (Plate XXIX, fig. 6,) is shorter and the stigmata are more 

 erect Fig i Plate XXIX, the pistil excepted, which is that of the cultivated 

 Saffron is" drawn from a specimen in the Naples herbarium, communicated by 

 Tenore' but whether collected by him or by Orsini is uncertain. This, and similar 

 specimens in the Kew herbarium, are labelled as follows:-" «C. sativus sauvage. 

 Monte de Fiori, Ascoli. Declivities facing south-east at an elevation of 2000 feet. 

 Tenore miscit, Aug. 1830. Orsini miscit, June 1831." Another record is as follows:- 

 « Monte de Fiori, Ascoli. South-east exposure, 3200 feet." Monte de Fiori is 

 between six thousand and seven thousand feet in height. In the annotated copy 

 of Wood's Tourists' Flora, which belonged to the author, occurs the following MS. 

 note— "Sponte nascitur in Montibus Piceni prope Asculum, et Precipue Sylva sua 

 dictu Dao-liabeti unde habui ab Orsino: Floret Sepr.", probably copied from Ber- 

 toloni's Ft. Italica, vol. i, p. 216. These records would appear to refer to three 

 distinct localities in the neighbourhood of Ascoli; the last, Dagliabeti, is three miles 

 to the north-west of Ascoli, and Monte de Fiori immediately to the south of the 

 town I have made on three separate occasions, twice in company with Mr. C. H. 

 Cobbold, a thorough search for the Crocus, both over the mountain and _ in the 

 woods of Dagliabeti, but without success. The habitats indicated are wild and 

 uncultivated and not such as would imply an escape from cultivation. As this is 

 the only locality in which C. sativus, all but identical with the cultivated Saffron, 

 has been found in an apparently wild habitat, a new-finding of the plant which was 

 gathered fifty years ago would be of great interest. 



Monte de Fiori, longitude 13° 35' east, is the most western point from which 

 any form of C. sativus has been recorded. 



Var 2 Carhvrightianus, Plate XXIX b, scarcely differs from the type excepting 

 in stature, the flowers being much smaller: the segments are very variable in size 

 and proportion; the corm in cultivation attains a size equal to that of the cultivated 

 Saffron; the long pistil, which always exceeds the stamens, distinguishes it from 

 the other varieties. It is an abundant plant in eastern Greece, and the Cyclades, 

 to which district it is limited. It is common near the Pyraus, on Mount Hymettus, 

 and other mountains about Athens; also on the islands of Teno, Scyro, and Senpho 

 and on the highest parts of the Island of Andros, where, Mr. Ouintana, H. M. V. 

 Consul at Syra, informs me, it is gathered for medicinal purposes, and that a pig- 

 ment is made from the pistils or Saffron, called Zafran. 



It has also been recorded from near Canea, in Crete. Visiani mentions its occur- 

 rence on hills about Salona and Monte Marion, near Spalatro, m Dalmatia; but 

 both the Dalmatian and Cretan forms seem to be identical with Var. 5. Fa//asn. 

 Var 3 Haussknechtii, described by Boissier as a species distinct from sativus, 



