io6 



FLORA AND SYLVA. 



and I like, when planting, to put in a 

 layer of coarse silver sand to lay the 

 corms on and to nearly cover them with 

 the same; moreover, when lifting them 

 in the resting season the stratum of white 

 sand is of great assistance in the finding 

 of the smaller corms. 



With the exception of C. Fleischeri 

 all those represented in the plate be- 

 long to the section Annulati of Maw's 

 arrangement, in which the basal corm- 

 tunic is formed of rings of a more or 

 less coriaceous membrane. 



i. Crocus Tauri melanthorus (Ba- 

 ker). — A plant introduced some ten 

 years since from Smyrna. I have never 

 yet seen a living plant of the typical C. 

 Tauri^ and much doubt its being in 

 cultivation, the plant that generally 

 passes for it being a form of C. reticu- 

 lars that can instantly be distinguished 

 from it at any season by its strongly 

 reticulated corm-tunic; I find also that 

 this plant differs in many characters 

 from Maw's description of the true C. 

 Tauri. Thus : — 



C. Tauri. Var. melanthorus. 



Tunic. 



Membranous. Strongly coriaceous. 



Perianth segments. 



Pale unstriped purple. Rich lilac. Exterior 



of outer segments 

 broadlygrainedwith 

 purple. 

 Anthers. 



Orange ; twice the Black ; peculiarly has- 

 length of the fila- tate, about half the 

 ment. length of the fila- 



ment. 



Pistil. 



Very short, pale yel- Deep orange ; longer 

 low, shorter than than the anthers, 

 the anthers. 



The flower is one of the most glo- 

 bose I have ever seen among Croci,and 

 somewhat suggests a blue C.chrysanthus 

 but is not the var. coerulescens of Maw, 

 which he describes as being white in- 

 side. With our present limited know- 

 ledge of the plant it is better to wait 

 before deciding where to place it botani- 

 cally, but it seems to be akin to C. bi- 

 florus, Crewei, and chrysanthus, rather 

 than to C. Tauri as known to Maw. 



2. C. Fleischeri (Gay). — A fine 

 j form of this delicate species collected 



by Mr. Elwes. It differs from the type 

 in that the purple colouring rises but 

 little above the throat instead of con- 

 tinuing in featherings to the top of the 

 outer segments ; it closely resembles a 



| form grown at Kew as var. albus from 

 Mersina, but is larger in all its parts. 

 The typical form appears very difficult 

 to grow, and even in a cold frame suffers 



I from damp ; but this form of it has so 

 far increased and flowered well with me 

 in the rock-garden without protection. 



3. C. cyprius (Boissier and Kot- 

 schy). — A small plant found by Theo- 

 dor Kotschy on the Cyprian Olympus. 



j Maw's figure (Pi. lvii.), from dried 

 j specimens, does not do it justice, miss- 

 ing the depth of the rich purple at the 

 base of the segments and the fiery orange 

 of the throat. It can easily be known 

 from all other described species by the 

 scarlet filament. I find it rather delicate 

 and slow of increase, and have never 

 yet obtained seed, but I understand that 

 at Warley it has seeded freely. 



4. C. chrysanthus^ var. pallidus. — 

 This is probably the form mentioned 

 by Maw as occurring on Mt. Olympus, 



