A HISTORY OF THE SPECIES OF CROCUS. 



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multipartitis, cormi tunica fibroso-costata, corolla} lac. ellipticis. Mount 

 Gargarus. 



Inhabits mountains in the most eastern parts of Southern 

 Europe, and extends as far as the Troad in Asia. 



This beautiful Crocus, branching into a great number of wild 

 local varieties, from deep yellow to white, either unstreaked or 

 with dark or blue streaks on the outside of the tube and base of 

 the limb, extends from the Banat, over the Balkan, to Rhodosto 

 and Constantinople, I believe on Silurian limestone; from thence 

 it stretches to Gargarus and Chios, and some other islands, and to 

 Bithynian Olympus. Mr. Sabine separated the white flowered 

 plants, of which one was unstreaked, and the other had three short 

 blue streaks on the outside, as two varieties of a separate species, 

 which he named Lacteus, distinguished also by the absence of a 

 bract from Lageneeflorus aureus ; but they were merely garden 

 varieties of the golden plant ; and I have obtained seedlings from 

 the same capsule representing Aureus, Lacteus concol or, Lacteus 

 penicillatus, and Lacteus lutescens. There are natural varieties 

 of the golden with and without the bract, which the bracteate 

 varieties seem disposed to lose in our climate. It is observable 

 that all the wild specimens of Lagenaaflori seem to have grown 

 with the bulbs five inches or more underground, and depth is very 

 necessary to their preservation ; for mice, which I have found 

 usually to meddle with no other species, will scratch very deep 

 in quest of them. The fine common large yellow Crocus luteus 

 of the gardens differs sufficiently from the other varieties to 

 make it pretty evident that it is a natural local variation of the 

 species, and not a garden variety ; but we know not whence 

 it was derived. Mr. Ker called it Mcesiacus, and gave the same 

 name to the garden variety, Lacteus penicillatus of Sabine. It 

 is possible that luteus may be found in that quarter, but we do 

 not know it. Dr. Sibthorp states that aureus grows in sand upon 

 clay ; and certainly all the varieties of this species seem to prefer 

 a very light soil upon a clay subsoil, being planted five or six 

 inches deep. Aureus, so treated, produces seed abundantly ; 

 planted near the surface, upon sandstone, or in a damp situation, 

 it thrives ill, and often perishes. Crocus sulphureus concolor 

 of Ker, and Sulphureus pallidus of Sabine, are certainly old 

 seedling varieties of aureus, grown quite sterile, and with the 

 anthers very defective from age and long increase by offsets; C. 

 sulphureus striatus and stellaris of Haworth are equally sterile 

 from old age, and have not been found except in gardens, where 

 they were probably produced. The flower would raise a suspi- 

 cion that they might have been crossed with reticulatus ; but 

 the bulbs do not uphold that surmise. There is in the Banksian 

 Herbarium, however, a remnant of a specimen said to have 



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