3 , 2 THE GENUS CROCUS. 



Proper Leaves three or four, barely half an inch (0.013 metre) long, and hidden within the sheathing 

 leaves at the autumnal flowering-time, developed in the spring, and produced at the maturity ot 

 the capsule to a length of fourteen or fifteen inches (0.350—0.375 metre), from one-quarter to 

 one-third of an inch (0.0063— 0.0084 metre) broad, the keel about one-fourth the width of the 

 blade, the lateral channels broad and open and without ridges, the margin of the keel and blade 

 ciliated. 



Perianth: Tube four inches in length (0.100 metre) from the ovary to the throat. Throat glabrous, 

 white. Segments from two to two and a half inches (0.050—0.063 metre) long, and from three- 

 quarters of an inch to an inch (0.019—0.025 metre) broad, bright lilac feathered with three main 

 branching purple veins, which ramify over the entire surface; the inner segments much broader 

 than the outer. 



Stamens an inch high (0.025 metre); the orange Anthers three times the length of the white Filament. 

 Pollen Grain papillose, orange, from dro to ^ of an inch (0.00006—0.00008 metre) in diameter. 



Pistil much exceeding the stamens, an inch and a half (0.038 metre) in height; the Style dividing at 

 the level of the summit of the anthers, and produced into a mass of erect or drooping bright 

 orange capillary stigmata. 



Scape from half an inch to an inch and a half (0.013—0.038 metre) high at the flowering-time, produced 

 to a height of from two to three inches (0.050—0.075 metre) at the maturity of the capsule. 



Capsule from three-quarters of an inch to an inch and a quarter (0.019—0.032 metre) in height, and 

 three-eighths of an inch (0.0 10 metre) broad. 



Seed nearly globose, about one-ninth of an inch (0.0028 metre) in diameter, rich red brown, papillose; 

 the chalaza, raphe, and caruncle a little darker than the body of the seed. 



Croats speciosus has an extended range from north Persia, through the eastern 

 parts of Asia Minor, the Caucasus, and the Crimea, to the province of Podolia, in 

 southern Russia. Herbert, followed by Baker, mentions its occurrence as far north- 

 west as Transylvania; but I can find no authenticated record of its occurrence 

 there, and I think it probable that Reichenbach's name of speciosus (Ic. Crit., tab. 

 948), applied to C. iridiflorus, which is a native of Transylvania, may have suggested 

 its reputed occurrence in that region. 



Its range, omitting Transylvania, would be between 29° and 55° east longitude, 

 and 37 and 48° north latitude. Colonel O. St. John, writing from Kanchar, mentions 

 an autumn-flowering Crocus as common in southern as well as northern Persia, 

 and if, as is probable, he refers to this species, it may extend further south than 

 37 north latitude. The most eastern point from which it has been recorded is the 

 neighbourhood of Astrabad; it is also common in the province of Karadagh, in 

 north-west Persia. In Armenia it has been recorded from woods on the Tchater 

 Dagh (? Tchildir Dagh, north of Kars); and I think the plant gathered by Kotschy 

 on the summit of the Kolak Dagh, near Trebizond, at an altitude of eight thousand 

 five hundred feet, November 6th, 1859, and distributed by him under the name of 

 C. pulchellus, is this species. 



In Georgia and the Caucasus it has been found at Tiflis; in the neighbourhood 

 of Kutais, in the province of Imeritia; near Golovinskii; at Sukhum-Kale, in the 



