"SWEET SUMMER BUDS" 213 



Crocus cup in a well-selected flower, and observe 

 how quiet and solemnly beautiful it is in perfect 

 harmony with the general expression." 



According to legend, the flower derived its name 

 from a beautiful youth, Crocus, who was trans- 

 formed into the flower. His love, Smilax, was 

 changed at the same time into the delicate vine of 

 that name. Another legend says that the flower 

 sprang from the blood of the infant Crocus, who 

 was accidentally killed by a disk thrown by the god 

 Mercury. The Egyptians encircled their wine-cups 

 with the saffron crocus; the Greeks and Romans 

 adorned the nuptial couch with the saffron crocus; 

 the robes of Hymen, god of marriage, were saffron- 

 hued; and poets called the dawn saffron, or crocus- 

 colored. Shakespeare, therefore, had authority for 

 "the saffron wings of Iris." 



Saffron is an herb of the sun and is under the rule 

 of Leo. 



CUCKOO-FLOWER (Lychnis Flos cuculi): 

 Shakespeare mentions "cuckoo-flowers" in "King 

 Lear," 1 in company with troublesome weeds. Cor- 

 delia remarks: 



Crown'd with rank fumiter and furrow-weeds, 

 With burdocks, hemlocks, nettles, cuckoo-flowers, 



*Act IV, Scene IV. 



