446 Account and Description of Spring Crocuses, $c. 



applied to this species, belong as I apprehend to Crocus lage- 

 naeflorus ; in the descriptions of these no mention is made of 

 any coloured markings on the petals, from whence I infer, 

 that our Common Yellow Crocus is not the kind they 

 allude to. Nothing the least resembling it has been found 

 wild * in any country, it may therefore be concluded to be a 

 garden production. It received its specific name from La- 

 marck^ who distinguished it from Crocus vernus, under 

 which name it is found in the Botanical Magazine, folio 45. 

 It was called! C. floribundus by Mr.HAWORTii. Being without 

 any account of its origin, we are left to conjecture from what 

 it could have sported. In all the essential characters it so - 

 entirely agrees with C. lagenseflorus that I believe we must 

 consider it to have been derived from that species, and if 

 this be admitted it ought to lose its distinction as a separate 

 species. It may probably have been an hybrid production 

 between C. lagenaeflorus and C. sulphureus. It very rarely 

 produces seed, but increases most abundantly by its bulbs. 

 It comes into flower with the earliest of the varieties of C. 

 vernus, soon after C. sulphureus, and continues to produce a 

 succession of blossoms profusely for a considerable time. 

 The leaves are numerous, dark green, broad and flat, with a 

 decided white line in the middle, the edges very revolute and 

 with a deep keel, they hardly extend to the top of the flower 

 at first, but grow to a considerable length afterwards, and 



♦ In the Synopsis of the Genus by M. Decandolle in Redoute's Liliacees, 

 (under Crocus biflorus, vol. v. folio 294) it is stated that it originated in the en- 

 virons of Belgrade ; and Lamarck, in his Illustrations, gives the Swiss moun- 

 tains for its native habitat. 



f Lamarck Illustr. vol. 1, page 106, No. 443. 



t Horticultural Transactions, vol. 1, page 133. 



