,86 THE OLIVE LEAF. CHAP, 



purple and white blossom has sported into a great 

 number of varieties under cultivation. It is the crocus 

 of the Alps, where its flowers actually pierce the lin- 

 gering snows in June, and form with them a more 

 harmonious picture than with the purplish-brown of 

 the naked earth out of which in our gardens they 

 emerge. Its broad sheets cf lilac bloom growing wild 

 in the Nottingham meadows have a fine effect when, 

 out of the early grass just beginning to be tinted with 

 the first vivid green, they unfold the graceful curves 

 of their petals to the fitful sunshine of the quiet spring 

 afternoon. 



So much is the crocus associated with the showers 

 and the sunbeams of April, that it requires a special 

 mental effort, even when the fact is known, to realize 

 that it also blooms in the fading light and amid the 

 withering foliage of September. There are well-known 

 species of crocus that flower only during the autumnal 

 months. In the same meadows of Nottingham where 

 the purple crocus of spring flowers so abundantly, may 

 be seen side by side with them dark green flowerless 

 patches of the pale purple autumn crocus ; and the 

 curious thing is, that the flowers of the spring crocus 

 appear before the leaves, which attain their full vigour 

 and luxuriance when the blossoms have disappeared; 

 whereas, on the other hand, the flowers of the autumn 

 crocus appear after its leaves, that have grown all 

 winter and summer, have withered. In Switzerland 

 the sandy meadows along the banks of the Alpine 

 streams are covered with myriads of autumn crocuses, 



