My Garden in Spring 



use the correct Greek pronunciation and call the first syllable 

 Crock. I should like to do so if I could remember, and 

 thought anyone would know what I was talking about, for 

 I like to be consistent, and one always uses the short o for 

 Crocodile, and it would be pleasant to try to believe in the 

 derivation of KpoKo-Sei\os (Crocus-fearer) given by some of 

 the ancients. 



It is not very likely that the huge reptile of the Nile, 

 than which, according to Pliny, " there is not another crea- 

 ture againe in the world, that of a smaller beginning groweth 

 to a bigger quantity," ever came in contact with the Crocus, 

 or would take the slightest notice of it if he did, unless he 

 turned up his nose at it, as his movable upper jaw would 

 permit. But one must remember that the word Croco- 

 deilos was also used for smaller Saurians, even for his poor 

 relations the lizards, and on the authority of Stephanus we 

 learn that Saffron mixed with honey was good to anoint 

 beehives and scare off the land Crocodiles. 



It is interesting, too, to note that the Latin name Crocus 

 has entirely supplanted the English one of Saffron in 

 popular use for the plant, providing a handy argument 

 against the inventing of lengthy and often confusing new 

 English names for plants, such as Cape Fuchsias for Correa 

 and Cape Cowslip for Lachenalia. 



Saffron is now used almost entirely for the drug, and 

 Meadow-saffron as a name for the Colchicum is not 

 commonly used for the garden forms, and I hope never 

 will be, for the Crocus and Colchicum are too frequently 

 confused as it is. "What is the Crocus found in the 

 meadows in the Alps, or Germany, in the autumn ? " is a 

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