CROCUS 



THE BULB BOOK 



CROCUS 



about 15 ins. long. The beautiful 

 flowers appear in February and 

 March, the inner segments being 

 rich bright purple, with deeper 

 coloured markings near the apex and 

 a- white throat, and are paler than 

 the outer ones, varying to white or 

 variegated with purple and white. 

 (Maw, Crocus, t. 24; Bot. Mag. t. 

 6197.) There are several good forms 

 of this species, such as albiflorus, 

 concolor, niveus, victus, and versicolor. 



O. biflorus (C. annulatus). This 

 handsome species, known as the 

 Scotch or Cloth of Silver Crocus, is 

 found wild in many parts of Italy, 

 and extending eastwards to the 

 Caucasus. It has short, erect, narrow 

 leaves with a distinct white midrib. 

 The flowers appear in February and 

 March, and vary in colour from white 

 to a pale lavender, the outer segments 

 being distinctly feathered with purple 

 and yellow within. (Bot. Mag. t. 

 845 ; Red. Lil. t. 294 ; Maw, Crocus, 

 t. 59.) 



There are many forms : Argenteus, 

 snowy white, feathered with black, 

 has conspicuous bright orange 

 stigmas ; estriatus, rosy-lilac washed 

 with buff; Adami, from the Caucasus, 

 pale purple, or feathered outside with 

 deeper veins (Bot. Mag. t. 3868); 

 minor is a free-flowering form with 

 lilac inner segments, the outer ones 

 being striped-with purple ; Pestalozzce 

 is a charming variety with small 

 white and yellow flowers, and is 

 a form of nubigenus from Asia Minor, 

 the flowers of which are suffused and 

 speckled with brown ; pusillus is 

 excellent for edgings and masses, and 

 has an orange throat and white 

 feathered outer segments ; and the 

 Hungarian Weldeni varies from pure 

 white to mauve stained with blue (Bot. 

 Mag. t. 6211). The variety Leichtlini 

 is recognised by its white or pale 

 purple sweet-scented flowers with 



narrow lance-shaped segments. The 

 variety Alexandra has the outer 

 segments suffused or striped with 

 purple on the outside, the inside 

 being white (Bot. Mag. t. 7740). 



C. Biliotti. A charming Crocus 

 from Trebizond, having dark rich 

 purple flowers with a deeper coloured 

 blotch near the throat, from January 

 to March (Maw, Crocus, t. 86, B.) 



C. Boissieri. A rare species from 

 the Cilician Mts., having pure white 

 flowers with ovate lance-shaped seg- 

 ments about lj ins. long (Maw, 

 Crocus, t. 20). 



C. Boryi. A late autumn-flowering 

 Crocus from the Grecian Archipelago, 

 3 to 4 ins. high, with creamy-white 

 flowers about November, having an 

 orange-yellow throat, and pale purple 

 veins on the base of the petals (Bot. 

 Reg. 1847, t. 16). The variety mara- 

 thonisius has very large pure white 

 flowers with less-branching stigmas 

 level with the anthers (Maw, Crocus, 

 t. 47). 



O. byzantinus (C- iridiftorus). A 

 fine autumnal Crocus from the Banat 

 and Transylvania, flowering in Sep- 

 tember and October. The three outer 

 reflexed segments are a clear rich 

 purple, in contrast to the three much 

 smaller pale lilac inner segments. 

 The stamens have lilac filaments and 

 orange anthers, while the stigmata are 

 purple. (Bot. Mag. t. 6141 ; Bot. Reg. 

 1847, t. 4; Maw, Crocus, t. 1.) The 

 variety albus has white flowers. 



C. Cambessedesi. A native of the 

 Balearic Isles, Majorca and Minorca, 

 having pretty little whitish or wine- 

 purple flowers, buff or pale yellow 

 outside and striped with purple, and 

 produced from late September to 

 March (Maw, Crocus, 1. 13 ; Bot. Reg. 

 1845, t. 37). 



C. cancellatus. A handsome 

 autumnal Crocus, native of Asia 

 Minor, with leaves about a foot 



