478 



Iridacete Mori tbretia. 





flowers, makes a beautiful bed treated in the same way as 

 Gladiolus. 



M. fucata is yellow and scarlet, and M, rosea is rose and 

 white. 



There are several other South African genera which contri- 

 bute a few handsome species, such as Babiana, Watsonia^ and 

 Witsenia ; but they are strictly speaking greenhouse plants. 



14. CROCUS. 



It is unnecessary to go into the details of the technical 

 characters of this familiar genus, farther than to enable the 



beginner to distinguish 

 it from Bulbocodium 

 and Colchicum, two 

 genera very similar in 

 habit though belong- 

 ing to a different 

 family with 6 stamens 

 and a free ovary. The 

 bulbs or corms are more 

 or less densely clothed 

 with fibrous coats. 

 Leaves all radical, 

 linear, enveloped in a 

 scarious sheath at the 

 base. Flowers solitary 

 or fascicled, almost ses- 

 sile on the bulb. Peri- 

 anth - tube long and 

 very narrow. Stamens 

 on the bases of the 

 outer segments. Ovary 

 underground. Stigmas 

 more or less cleft or 

 fringed. Confined to 



Fig. 232. Crocus vernus. (i nat. size.) ^ northem hemi- 



sphere in the Old World and particularly abundant in Asia Mino? 

 and the Mediterranean region. The old Greek name. The spe- 

 cies and varieties in cultivation are exceedingly numerous and 

 difficult of discrimination. We can only afford space for 

 short descriptions of the commoner species. 1 For convenience 



1 Chiefly taken from an outline key, kindly comiminicated by Mr. J. Gr. Baker. 



