CROCUS KOROLKOWI. 2 . 



at p. 213 of the 7th. Fasciculus of his Descriptions Plantarum. In 1882 Dr. Kegel 

 succeeded in obtaining a supply of the living corms, which with his usual liberality 

 have been widely distributed among cultivators. Since then it has been gathered, 

 in the spring of 1885, by the Afghan Boundary Commissioners on the northern frontier 

 of Afghanistan. Mr. W. Simpson collected a few specimens at Bala Murghab on 

 the level ground of the valley, 63 east longitude, and between 35° and 39 north 

 latitude, where he found the plant growing in great quantities and flowering at the 

 end of January and the beginning of February. Specimens were sent by Mr. Simpson 

 to the British Museum, and identified as C. Korolkowi by Mr. H. N. Ridley, who 

 recorded the discovery at page 185 of the Journal of Botany for June, 1885. It 

 flowers towards the end of February in cultivation. 



C. Korolkowi somewhat resembles C. aureus, Sibth. and Smith, though it is of 

 much smaller stature. It differs from C. aureus in the following characters:— Its 

 corm tunic consists of thin membrane interlaced with true fibres, which are generally 

 parallel, with a tendency to reticulation. The segments are much smaller than those 

 of C. aureus, and the outer divisions are externally suffused with brown; the pistil 

 is higher in proportion to the height of the stamens; and the division of the stig- 

 mata more distinct; the anthers are nearly vertical instead of being divergent; and 

 the filaments much shorter in proportion to the length of the anthers. The leaves 

 are glabrous and much narrower, and present a different section, the keel beino- 

 nearly as wide as the blade. 



The occurrence of this species so far east is of great interest, no other orange 

 Crocus being known east of the borders of the Black Sea, distant more than^a 

 thousand miles west of Samarkand. Its habitat is intermediate between the West 

 Caspian district, till lately supposed to be the most eastern limit of the genus, 

 and the Ala Tau range, the home of C. alatavicus, which is four hundred^miles 

 still further to the north-east in Central Asia. 



These discoveries open up an immense region, hitherto but little explored, and 

 in which more species of the genus may yet be met with. 



REFERENCES TO PLATE LVI. 



Fig. 1. Flowering-state, February, actual size (from wild specimens). 



Fig. 2. With matured leaves, April 24th, actual size (cultivated). 



Fig. 3. Diagrammatic dissection of scape, ovai-y, and spathes, actual size. 



Fig. 4. Stamens and Pistil, magnified two-fold. 



Fig. 5. Stigmata, magnified six-fold. 



Fig. 6. Section of leaf, magnified six-fold (cultivated). 



Fig. 7. ti. b, Corm tunic, magnified two-fold. 



