158 The Garden of pleafant Flowers. 



fome chiues with their yellow tips, difperfed as it were among the leaues in the mid- 

 dle : it flowreth in September, a little after the firft (hew of the earlier Medowe Saf- 

 frons are part. 



1 7. Colchicum variegatum plena jtore. 

 The party coloured double Medowe Saffron. 



We haue another of thefe double kinds (if it be not the very fame with the former, 

 varying in the flower as nature pleafeth oftentimes ; for I haue this flower in my garden, 

 as I here fet it forth, euery yeare) whofe flowers are diuerfified in the partition of the 

 colours, as is to be feene in the fingle party coloured Medowe Saffron before defcri- 

 bed, hauing fome leaues white, and others pale purple, and fome leaues halfe white 

 and halfe purple, diuerfly fet or placed in the double flower, which doth confift of as 

 many leaues as the former, yet fometime this party coloured flower doth not fliew it 

 felfe double like the former, but hath two flowers, one riling out of another, making 

 each of them to be almoft but fingle flowers, confifting of eight or ten leaues a peece : 

 but this diuerlity is not conftant ; for the fame roote that this yeare appeareth in that 

 manner, the next yeare will returne to his former kinde of double flowers againe. 



1 8. Colchicum Vernum. Medowe Saffron of the Spring. 



This Medowe Saffron rifeth vp very early in the yeare, that is, in the end of lanu- 

 arie fometimes, or beginning, or at the furtheft the middle of February, prefently af- 

 ter the deepe Frofts and Snowes are part, with his flowers inclofed within three greene 

 leaues, which opening themfelues as foone almoft as they are out of the ground, fhew 

 their buds for flowers within them very white oftentimes, before they open farre, and 

 fometimes alfo purplifh at their firft appearing, which neuer fhew aboue two at the 

 moft vpon one roote, and neuer rife aboue the leaues, nor the leaues much higher then 

 they, while they laft : the flower confifteth of fix leaues, long and narrow, euery leafe 

 being diuided, both at the bottome and toppe, each from other, and ioyned together 

 onely in the middle, hauing alfo fix chiues, tipt with yellow in the middle, euery chiue 

 being ioyned to a leafe, of a pale red or deepe blufh colour, when it hath ftood a while 

 blowne, and is a fmaller flower then any Medowe Saffron, except the fmall Spanim 

 kindes onely, but continueth in his beauty a good while, if the extremity of fharpe 

 Frofts and Windes doe not fpoile it : the leaues wherein thefe flowers are enclofed, at 

 their firft comming vp, are of a brownifh greene colour, which fo abide for a while, 

 efpecially on the outfide, but on the infide they are hollow, and of a whitifh or grayifh 

 greene colour, which after the flowers are part, grow to bee of the length 'of a mans 

 longeft finger, and narrow withall : there rifeth vp likewife in the middle of them the 

 head or feede veffell, which is fmaller and fhorter, and harder then any of the former, 

 wherein is contained fmall round browne feede : the roote is fmall, fomewhat like vn- 

 to the rootes of the former, but ihorter, and not hauing fo long an eminence on the 

 one fide of the bottome. 



19. Colchicum vernum atropurpureum. Purple Medowe Saffron of the Spring. 



The flower of this Medowe Saffron, is in the rifing vp of his leaues and flowers to- 

 gether, and in all things elfe, like vnto the former, onely the flowers of this fort are at 

 their firft appearing of a deeper purple colour, and when they are blowne alfo are 

 much deeper then the former, diuided in like manner, both at the bottome and toppe 

 as the other, fo that they feeme, like as if fix loofe leaues were ioyned in the middle 

 part, to make one flower, and hath his fmall chiues tipt with yellow, cleauing in like 

 manner to euery leafe. 



The Place. 



All thefe Medowe Saffrons, or the moft part of them, haue their places 

 expreffed in their titles; for fome grow in the fields and medowes of the 

 champion grounds, others on the mountaines and hilly grounds. The 

 Englifh kindes grow in the Weft parts, as about Bathe, Briftow, Warmi- 



fter, 



