CROCUS AUREUS. 



Pistil shorter than the stamens, from three-eighths to five-eighths of an inch (0.010-0 016 metre^ in 

 ^SL^J^^J^ S^r ° f *" -^ - 'he anthers^'and^ 



^•nSe?( sj^ls^e iteassr produced to a *** ° f - - *- 



C nt Sains oTthe^peTtplef ' ^ ^ ** ^ ( °'^ »"»> ^ C '° Sel >' *»*« with 



.SW one-fifth of an inch (0.0050 metre) high, and one-eighth of an inch (0.0032 metre) broad brisrht 



3ES! nPemng t0 br ° Wn; the Pr ° minent ChaIaza ' ra P he > and ca ™ ncle ? ale flesh-colour and 



The description of the wild typical Crocus aureus, represented in Plate LV, will 

 apply for the most part to the old horticultural varieties represented in Plate LV/;, 

 except as regards the stamens, which are effete and much reduced in size, and 

 the flower-colouring, which ranges from nearly pure white or cream-colour through 

 shades of yellow to orange, either self-coloured or feathered and veined externally 

 with grey or chocolate markings. These varieties do not produce seed. 



C. annus is said to have been introduced by Clusius from the Levant in 1579; 



but it was probably a much earlier introduction; as it was certainly known to 



Gerard as a garden plant before 1597, and probably to Turner as early as 1548. 



The strong evidence in favour of its having been known in gardens long before 



the time of Clusius, is the fact that the ancient herbaria consolidated in the 



Herbarium Sloaneanum at the British Museum contain examples of nearly every 



variety of C. aureus we now possess; and as none of these are known as wild plants, 



they imply a far back cultivation of C. aureus, of which they are evidently the 



offspring. The most familiar of these varieties is the Dutch yellow Crocus, Plate 



1Mb, fig. 1. It differs little from the wild plant, except in its more robust ' habit. 



the invariable presence of external grey lines on the outer surface of the segments,' 



and that it never bears seed, though effete capsules are occasionally produced.' 



The most extreme departure from the type is found in var. lacteus, in which the 



flower is nearly white, and between this and the Dutch yellow there are many 



intermediate varieties. 



Crocus aureus extends further west than any other orange species, ranging 

 from Serv.a on the west, to the Dobrudscha and western Asia Minor to the east 

 between longitude 21 and 30° east; and from the Island of Scio on the south to 

 the Southern Banat, from 3 8|° to 4 5° north latitude. It is uncertain whether it 

 occurs at all in Greece, where C. Olivieri seems to take its place. 



There is a specimen in the De Candolle Herbarium at Geneva from the Island 

 of Sao. In Asiatic Turkey Dr. Kirk gathered it at Renkioi (Erenkoi) near the 



2 N 



