April. 
Pl. 30. 
Pig. 3. duced from the Seeds of the common Crocus of 
| purens Neapolitanus : | 
The ftrongeft only fhould be fuffer’d to remain; 
and thefe at due Diftances. They will in their 
natural Time rife to Flower, and there will be— 
produc’d feveral Varieties, and thefe often more April. 
rich than the moft elegant and improv’d of the 
others. 
3 GREAT VIOLET CROCUS. 
Among the vaft Variety that Culture has pro- 
ay 
than this ; tho’ feveral, ona near View, 1 more deli- 
cately painted. Tike 
Thefe we have occafionally nam’d before: this 
muft not be deny’d its Place. lLefs Care and 
Culture raife it; and befide its mafculine and no- 
ble Beauty, it has the Advantage of early flower- 
ing and of well ripening the Seeds. 
a a ufeful therefore to the good Gardener in 
more ' than one Capacity : we have mentioned on 
feveral Occafions what may be done by fowing 
and re-fowing of thefe and other Flowers; and 
the firft Care is to be a proper Stock. For all the 
feather’d, painted, and double Crocus’s, there is 
not a Stock fo good as this: the whole Plant is 
bold and large, the Petals of the Flower are well 
form’d, and the original Colour is ftrong to a 
great Excellence. _ | 
All the Time the Gardener is expecting Seeds | 
from it, his Borders are decorated with its native - 
Beauty. 
The more correct Botanical Writers, we have | 
before told the Student, call ‘all the Crocus by 
one common Name; but ’tis fit.we tell the Gar-. 
dener how this has been diftingwith’d teat the | 
earlier and lefs critical. - 
The Breadth of the Leaves, and Bignefs and 
Colour. of the Flower, were its firft Marks of Di- | 
Hence Cuusius cal’'d it Crocus vernus | 
This J. BavHINE — 
copy’d, and CaspaRr- little alter’d: his-Name is 
ftindction. 
latifolius purpureus flore majore. 
_ Crocus vernus latifolius flore purpureo magno. ‘The 
others call it Crocus. vernus maximus: and the in- 
duftrious.Dutch, in whofe Gardens it long fince 
-attain’d high Excellence, commemorating the 
Place vehepce. they receiv’d the Roots, Creacses pur- 
Purple Crocus of Naples, 
Linn us joins it with the other. Varieties, 
‘ander the common Name Crocus Spatha univalva, 
| radical. corolle tubo longiffi iff mo: Crocus, with the 
Scabbard from the Root of one Piece, and the 
Tube of the Flower very Jong. 
r The Root is a large Bulb, covered with a rag- 
ged brown Skin, and fending from the Bottom 
many Fibres. | 
‘The Flowers rife from the T op of the Root, 
_and three or four Leaves with them : thefe in 
both Kinds refemble thofe of the common ielloy 
| have additional Kinds: 
with vaft yellow Buttons. 
Crocus, but that they are longer; the Whole be- 
ing a bolder and more robuft Plant. 
The Leaves have a confiderable Breadth, and 
they rife nearly upright, till the Dews weigh 
down their Tops. At the Bottom they are 
whitifh, blanched by the Mould; in all other 
Parts of a blackifh green; but there runs along 
the Midft a white Line, much broader than. in 
any of the other Crocus’s. The Leaves alfo are 
fhorter in Proportion to their Breadth, and they 
are more pointed. 
The Flower rifes from the Root, iewmorted by 
its own long tubular Bafe, which is ftrenethned 
by the Scabbard. This is a brown Membrane. 
rifing with it fingle from the Root, and furround-’ 
ing it nearly to the Place where it fpreads out to 
form the Body of the Flower. 
The Segments which make the Body of the 
Flower are fix: they are oblong, pointed, and 
{well out in the Middle. . Their Colour is a deep 
blue, with a Tinge of Purple, very like that of | 
the Violet, and with the fame Velvety Hue. 
There is fometimes a Line of White along the 
Middle, but this deviates from the Character of 
the Flower: the Variations are innumerable; and 
every Time the Gardener raifes Seedlings he will 
we here defcribe the 
plain Flower, and unlefs thefe go farther than the 
Palenefs of a fingle Line, it is better to be per- 
fectly uniform, and without them. | 
_ The Student. knows already, that three F ila- 
ments are found in the Flower of the Crocus, 
and in their Centre a fingle Style. This refers the 
Plant to the Yriandria Monogynia; the third 
LINN AAN Clafs, and its firft Seétion. 
Their Number and Situation are the famé in 
| all the Varieties, but their Colour is lefs fix’d in 
this Flower; they.are white, and they are crown’d 
Thefe diverfify the 
Flower, and the Style more: it is pale in the 
Body ; but its Stigma or Top, which is large, 
and divided into : Parts, is of a beautiful 
gold yellow. 
In an Evening the Flower has a light Scent : 
it is fingular and not unpleafing. 
The Culture of this muft be the fame with that 
of the other Crocus’s which we have defcrib’d be- 
fore. And in the raifing Seedlings, there will, 
together with many Varieties, be fome noble 
Flowers of the original Colour, 
4. AU-. 
