The Flowers of Early Spring 



monograph in the English language. But it is 

 with the crocus as with the snowdrop. The 

 headquarters of the family are in Greece and in 

 Eastern Europe and Asia Minor, yet very little 

 notice of it is taken by Greek or Roman writers ; 

 and the early English writers have little to say of 

 it, except for the medical and culinary virtues of 

 saffron. But I know of few flowers that will 

 better repay close attention than the crocus. 

 There are many distinct species, and for any one 

 wishing for a simple introduction to botany, the 

 crocus is a very good plant to study, especially 

 because the parts of the plants are so easily 

 examined, and though to most people all crocuses 

 are alike except in colour, the botanical differ- 

 ences between the species are well-marked and 

 interesting. 



Besides these humble plants there are many 

 good shrubs in flower in January. The beautiful 

 evergreen Clematis cirrhosa may be classed as a 

 shrub, and in a mild January is often covered 

 with its delicate spotted flowers ; but it is a 

 southern plant, and the flowers cannot stand much 

 frost. There is the curious Garrya elliptica from 

 North America, which, when covered with its long 

 catkins, looking like a lot of small handbells 

 strung together one over the other, is quite an 

 ornamental shrub, and is so unlike any other 

 plant that for many years it was put into a 

 separate family all by itself. There are the two 

 wonderfully-scented shrubs, the Chimonanthus 



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