36 DUTCH BULBS AND GARDENS 



flower ; and she — for no apparent reason, which 

 seems unfair — turned into, not the delicate green 

 plant we call by her name, but a yew tree, a some- 

 what sombre fate for the inamorata of so ephemeral 

 a trifler as Crocus appears. 



In spite of this tale of impatient love there does 

 not seem to be any record, as one might have 

 expected, of the use of crocus in the flavouring of 

 love philtres or charms. The veil of Hymen was 

 saffron-coloured ; the flower, among others, sprang 

 up on the ground where Zeus and Hera reclined, 

 from sheer astonishment, one might imagine, at 

 seeing the Olympian pair on good terms. We our- 

 selves have dedicated it to St. Valentine — 



" While the crocus hastens to the shrine 

 Of Primrose love on St. Valentine " — 



though the time of its flowering probably has to do 

 with that. But among the many strange and un- 

 pleasant things which have been used in the flavour- 

 ing of love philtres saffron does not appear to have 

 had a place. 



It has been used for many other things. " The 

 crocus rayed with gold " is among the flowers which 

 crown Sophocles' " mighty goddess." The Greeks 

 also, we know, reckoned it among perfumes. 

 Aristophanes, in The Clouds, has a somewhat 



