210 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 



we cannot but admire. I shall only instance at present in the 

 crocus sativus, the vernal, and the autumnal crocus, which have 

 such an affinity, that the best botanists only make them varieties 

 of the same genus, of which there is only one species ; not being 

 able to discern any difference in the corolla, or in the internal 

 structure.* Yet the vernal crocus expands its flowers by the 

 beginning of March at furthest, and often in very rigorous wea- 

 ther ; and cannot be retarded but by some violence offered : 

 while the autumnal (the saffron) defies the influence of the spring 

 and summer, and will not blow till most plants begin to fade and 

 run to seed. This circumstance is one of the wonders of the 

 creation, little noticed, because a common occurrence : yet ought 

 not to be overlooked on account of its being familiar, since it 

 would be as difficult to be explained as the most stupendous phe- 

 nomenon in nature. 



Say, what impels, amidst surrounding snow 

 Congeal'd, the crocus* flamy bud to glow ' 

 Say, what retards, amidst the summer's blaze, 

 Th' autumnal bulb, till pale, declining days ? 

 The GOD of SEASONS, 'whose pervading power 

 Controls the sun, or sheds the fleecy shower. 

 He bids each flower his quick'ning word obey ; 

 Or to each lingering bloom enjoins delay. 



* The croctts verniti and C. sativus are now, I believe, universally acknowledged as distinct spe- 

 cies, of which few botanists entertain a doubt. Almost as familiar an instance may be cited 

 in the ulex vulgarii and U. nana, two allied species of furze, both of which are very abundant on 

 the heaths around London : the former of them flowering chiefly in April and May, the latter 

 never until the autumn. Plants in general are not much subject to variation in wild nature, but 

 some remarkable exceptions obtain in the one genus primula. The wild auricula, for example, 

 assumes two very different aspects in its indigenous localities, which have usually been accepted 

 as distinct species : but a more extraordinary variety occurs in the common primula vulgaris* it 

 having been ascertained that the primrose, the covrslip, and the oxlip, together with all the nu- 

 merous cultivated polyanthuses, are simply varieties of the same original stock. In addition to 

 the proofs adduced of this startling fact by Professor Henslow and the Hon. and Rev. W. Herbert, 

 I may mention that, a season or two ago, being much struck with the beautiful appearance of a 

 bank of various coloured primroses, in front of the porter's lodge, atBeddington Park, in Surrey, 

 1 was informed by the inmate of the lodge that they had all been raised from the carefully col- 

 lected seed of some very choice polyanthuses, which he showed me in his back garden, and which 

 had been sown in the hope and expectation of raising some good plants, of the kind last men- 

 tioned. Indeed, it is not very unusual for cultivated polyanthuses to throw forth a few flowers 

 from the root, in addition to those borne on a general stem ; and there is a common variety, 

 with flowers of the true primrose colour and character, growing, as in the ordinary polyan- 

 thuses, upon a raised stalk ED. 



