THE SPRING CROCUS 



153 



THE SPRING CROCUS. 



The Spring Crocus (Crocus vernus, All., natural 

 order Iridacese, the Iris family) is nearly always the 

 first flower to appear in the meadows on the melting 

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



It is what botanists call a pronounced geophyte 



Fio. XIII. The Underground Stem or Conn of the Spring Crocus 

 (Crocus vernus, All.), in Spring. 



The scale-leaves have been removed. 



a, Corm developed from the base of last year's flowering shoot ; 6, corm 

 of previous year ; c, scars of scale-leaves ; d, remains of last year's 

 flowering shoot ; *, buds which will flower this year ; /, smaller buds 

 which may flower next year. 



that is to say, the plant spends a large proportion 

 of its life underground. The stem has a peculiar 

 structure, which is often spoken of by the horti- 

 cultural fraternity as a bulb, but which is more 

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



