166 PLANTS OF THE ALPINE MEADOWS 



D. C.), a rare plant, but very similar to the commoner 

 species. 



The Meadow Saffron, though somewhat similar in 

 habit to the Spring Crocus, is no relative of that plant, 

 but belongs to a distinct family. It is easily dis- 

 tinguished by the six stamens, whereas the Crocus has 

 only three. But, like the Crocus, the Meadow Saffron 

 is a pronounced geophyte (p. 125), the whole plant 

 being buried deep in the soil, perhaps a foot or more 

 below the surface, at which depths frosts fail to pene- 

 trate. Only at certain seasons of the year does any 

 portion of the plant appear above ground. 



If we take the trouble to unearth a plant by 

 digging out a large sod of turf a foot or more deep 

 no easy task, and a delicate operation needing some 

 care, if it is to be performed without injury to the 

 plant we shall find a little underground stem. The 

 structure of this stem or corm is different from that of 

 the Crocus, and is illustrated in Text-fig. XVII. 



In autumn, when the flowers dot the meadows, 

 there are no leaves to be seen above ground. The 

 leaves, which are narrow, though broader than those 

 of a Crocus, do not appear until the following spring, 

 when, in the absence of flowers, they are easily over- 

 looked. All that we see above ground in the autumn, 

 are the upper parts of extraordinarily long flowers. 

 They rise perhaps 4 inches above the soil, and extend 

 below ground for another 9 to 12 inches, and are thus 

 of a total length of a foot or more. 



Two flowers nearly always arise from each under- 



