434 Account and Description of Spring Crocuses, fyc. 



are C. Susianus, C. sulphureus, C. stellaris, C. lagenaeflorus, 

 C. luteus, and C. lacteus. 



1. Crocus Susianus. Cloth of Gold Crocus. 



1. C. Susianus vulgaris. 



This has been called the earliest of the Crocuses ; but 

 though a few of its blossoms may appear first, yet C. biflorus 

 precedes it, a few days, in the general production of blossoms. 

 It is, however, soonest entirely out of flower, much before any 

 other kind. I have to particularize two varieties ; the first 

 being the most common, and indeed the only one generally 

 known. Neither of them produce flowers very abundantly. 



1. C. Susianus vulgaris. The leaves are short, narrow, 

 and spread wide on the ground, becoming at length nearly 

 reclinate ; they decay earlier than those of any other species. 

 The flowers are very little elevated from the ground, when 

 they expand. The germen is striped with purple, and often, 

 after a time, becomes entirely purple. The tube of the flower 

 is marked at the top with brownish purple stripes. The 

 petals are deep yellow, lanceolate, obtuse, and nearly equal. 

 The outer are permanently revolute, with a brownish purple 

 stripe, or band, occupying the greater part of their back, 

 and finely, but not deeply, feathered at the edges, towards 

 the top. In the first flowers that shew themselves, this stripe 

 is usually entire ; but subsequently it appears more divided, 

 and, in some of the latter flowers, these markings are broken 

 into stripes, or feathers. This change has often given rise to 

 an erroneous separation of this into two varieties. The inner 

 petals are marked with a small greenish-purple feathered spot 

 at the base. The anthers are yellow, and are placed low in 



