CROCUS BIFLORUS. 2g , 



Corm oblate, about half an inch (0.013 metre) broad. Tunic strongly coriaceous, splitting up at the base. 

 Basal Tunic a small coriaceous disc, succeeded upwards by two or three coriaceous annuli. 



Sheathing Leaves about four, from half an inch to three inches in length (0.013 — °-°75 metre), falling 

 short of the proper spathes. 



Proper Leaves four or five, reaching above the level of the flowers, and produced at the maturity of the 

 capsule to a length of about ten inches (0.250 metre), about one-twelfth of an inch (0.0021 metre) 

 broad, generally glabrous, but occasionally ciliated on the margins of the blade; the keel one-fourth 

 the width of the blade. 



Proper Spathe diphyllous, tubular, two and a half inches (0.063 metre) in length, and reaching to within 

 an inch (0.025 metre) of the throat. 



Perianth: Tube about four inches (0.100 metre) long from the ovary to the throat. Throat slightly 

 bearded, yellow. Segmetits in the type about an inch and a half (0.038 metre) long, and from a 

 quarter to a third of an inch (0.0063—0.008+ metre) broad, varying from white to lilac; the outer 

 surface of the outer segments coated with buff, and feathered with from three to five purple 

 markings. 



Stamens shorter than the pistil, fully half an inch (0.013 metre) high; the orange Anthers a little longer 

 than the slightly pubescent orange Filament. Pollen Grain -^ of. an inch (0.00006 metre) in 

 diameter, orange, glabrous. 



Pistil about three-quarters of an inch (0.019 metre) high, exceeding the stamens; the style dividing 

 at the level of the middle of the anthers, and produced into entire orange-scarlet stigmata. 



Scape an inch and a half (0.038 metre) high at the flowering-time, produced to a height of two or 

 three inches (0.050—0.075 metre) at the maturity of the capsule. 



Capsule about three-quarters of an inch (0.019 metre) high, and one-third of an inch (0.0084 metre) 

 broad. 



Seed nearly globose, about one-tenth of an inch (0.0025 metre) in diameter, bright buff", slightly glandular; 

 the chalaza, raphe, and caruncle of the same colour as the body of the seed. 



The varieties of C. biflorus, both as regards their size and flower-colouring, are very numerous. The 

 principal varieties are represented on Plates LIX and LIXb. 



Var. 1, estriatus, (Plate LIX, Fig. 2), from Florence, generally resembles the type, except that the outer 

 surface of the outer segments are self-coloured buff', without purple markings. 



In Var. 2, Weldeni (Plate LIXb, Fig. 1, a, b, c), from Trieste and Dalmatia, the segments are rhombic in 

 form; and are either pure white, or externally suffused with bright lilac frecklings. 



In Var. 3, nubigenus, (Plate LIXb, Fig. 3, A), from Asia Minor, the flower is smaller than in the type; 

 and the outer surface of the outer segments are freckled with purplish grey. This form was 

 originally described by Herbert from specimens from Mount Gargarus, in the Troad. Mr. Elwes 

 found it on the Ak Dagh, Lycia; and I also gathered it on the heights of Chamlijah, east of 

 Scutari, opposite Constantinople: with it grew a distinctly feathered form also represented on Plate 

 LIX, Fig. 3, //. 



Sub-Var. Peslalozzcc (Plate LIX*, Fig. 4, k, I, m, n, 0), C. Pestalozza: of Boissier, is I think only an albino 

 of Herbert's var. nubigenus, as at Maslack, on the right hand side of the road between Constantinople 

 and Therapia, it grows intermixed with the feathered form found on Chamlijah, near Scutari. It 

 also occurs at Bolu, and on the slightly elevated plain of Erenkioi (Eren Keni), sloping towards 

 the Sea of Marmora, on the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus. 



Var. 5, Adami, C. Adami of Gay, C. Adamicus of Herbert (Plate LIX*, Fig. 2, e,f, ^), is the eastern 

 representative of the species from Georgia. In this the flower is either self-coloured pale purple 

 or, as represented in the Botanical Magazine, tab. 3868, with the outer surface of the outer segments 

 feathered with dark purple. 



The type form, (Plate LIX, Fig. 1), is also very variable in size and in the colour of the segments, 

 which ranges from white to violet; but these differences are so gradual that it would be useless 

 to apply names to the different stages of variation. 



