THE SPRING CROCUS 



153 



TiiK Spring Crocus. 



The S[)ring Crocus (6Vv>r//.s* rcnuLs^ All., iiatiiial 

 order Iridaceai, the Iris family) is nearly always the 

 first flower to appear in I he meadows on the meltingi 

 of the winter's snow (Plate XXXI., Fig. 1). 



It is what botanists call a prunounccid (jeophyte — 



e. ... 



f 



Fio. XIII. — The Underground Stem or Corm of the Spring Crocus 

 {Crocus vernwi, AIL), in Spring, 



The scale-leaves have been removed. 



a, Corm developed from the base of last year's flowerinp shoot : ^, corm 

 of previous year; r, si-ars of scale-leaves; (/. renxains of hist year's 

 flowering shoot; e, buds which will flower this year; /, snuiller budj 

 which may flower next year. 



that is to say, the plant spends a large proportion ))! 

 of jts life underground. The stem has a peculiar 

 structure, wliich is often spoken of by the horti- 

 cultural fraternity as a bulb, but whieli is more 

 accurately described as a conn (Fig. XIII.). It is a 



