276 



A HISTORY OF THE SPECIES OF CROCUS. 



Sp. 29. C. cancellatus. Herbert, Bot. Mag., 1841, 3864, 

 p. 2. Bot. Reg., 1843, Misc. p. 30. Ib. 1845, Misc. 

 p. 81. 



C. c. tun. vagin. tenuibus membranaceis fugacibus Stella ad basim persistente, 

 foliacea exteriore imo cormo affixa dura anguste dense reticulata de- 

 mum cribrosa, foliacearum apicibus in fibras longas setosas rigidas reso- 

 lutis, spatha bracteata bractea in unifloris tubata tubo longe exserto, 

 limbo albo pallido vel violaceo, fauce lutea lsevi, antheris aureis, stylo 

 aurantiaco, stigmatibus multifidis inodoris, foliis laevibus, canaliculis 

 fortiter nervatis parum hysteranthiis. Floret autumno. 



Three varieties must be distinguished : — 



1. Kotschianus, with a violet limb about an inch and a half 

 long. 



This florid Crocus was found by Mr. Theodore Kotschy flower- 

 ing profusely on a small elevated flat on the summit of Bulgar 

 Dagh, 7500 feet above the sea, lying behind Tarsus, and stretch- 

 ing towards Kurdistan : it is one mile towards the N. from the 

 lead-mines, and twelve miles from the Kulek Boghas or Pylae 

 Ciliciae, Kulek being a corruption of Cilicia. The snow lies 

 very late on this flat, and still covered it at the end of April in 

 1845 ; the soil is a dark reddish-brown ferruginous earth. This 

 Crocus flowers upon that and other parts of the ridges of Mount 

 Taurus at the end of summer, or rather in the autumn, where it 

 is abundant, and it purples the ground. Some of the native 

 specimens have three simultaneous flowers. I am indebted 

 to Mr. Kotschy for indicating the precise place of their growth, 

 and to John Clapperton, Esq., the British consul at Tarsus, and 

 through his kind request to Rescind Effendi, the director of the 

 lead-mines, for a box full of the roots taken up when flowering, 

 but quite dead before they reached me. I hope, however, for a 

 further supply at the season of rest. Many of a pale bluish tint, 

 and some apparently almost white, were intermixed with them. 



Var. 2. Margaritaceus. Bot. Reg., 1846, Misc. 74. Ib. 

 1847, 16, f. 4. 



Limbo ultra sesquiunciali subalbo venis omnibus intus pallide coerulescenti- 

 bus, fauce lutescente lsevi, laciniis subobtusis concavis extus ad basim 

 lac. cujusque violaceo saturate tristriatis striis decurrentibus media 

 majore lateralibus inferne proxime concurrentibus superne subramosis, 

 sepalis petala pallidiora superantibus, antheris aureis, filamentis brevibus 

 albis laevibus, stylo limbum subaequante aurantiaco, stigmatibus multi- 

 fidis inodoris, floribus successivis, foliis laevibus parum hysteranthiis. 



When I first became acquainted with the Nauplian plant 

 through a dried specimen, I saw that it conformed in structure 

 with Kotschy's specimen from Mount Taurus, and, although the 

 specimen had very little colour, I concluded that it had been 

 purple when fresh. The hills near Nauplia were searched 



