Ill 



The Purple Crocus^ 



THE Yellow Crocus is a perfect 

 flower, leaving nothing that we 

 could wish to add to or to alter, 

 and at first sight there seems to 

 be something less satisfactory when we 

 turn from it to look at the Purple Crocus. 

 In the first place, the latter plant is far 

 less elegant in shape. We must follow 

 this carefully and in detail. We shall 

 find that the back of a Yellow Crocus 

 petal is striped with a series of dark 

 lines, of which the central and longest 

 runs on to the end of the petal, while 

 the shorter radiate from it on each side 



' In these remarks I refer more particularly to the 

 wild flower, Crocus vernus. In garden specimens it 

 must be remembered that the shape will be probably 

 more or less distorted, and some injury done to the 

 general harmony of effect, though the tints may be 

 greatly enriched. The less highly cultivated the plant, 

 the better will it answer to my description. The flower 

 should be wide open when examined. 

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