498 Account and Description of Spring Crocuses, $c. 



a dark undefined feathered spot ; petals of equal length, the 

 outer ones purple, the inner ones prettily feathered. Stigmas 

 large, orange, much longer than the anthers which are pale 

 yellow. This is a very fine variety, but neither so rich nor 

 prolific in flowers as the preceding, but it has the merit of 

 being something later in blossoming. 



Postscript. 



Whilst this Paper has been in the press, the two Crocuses mentioned at p. 438, 

 as having been found growing in the Park of Sir Henry Bunbury in Suffolk, 

 have been published in the Botanical Magazine and in the Supplement to English 

 Botany, from specimens sent from the same place. The species which I have de- 

 scribed as Crocus lagenaeflorus is called in both these works (Bot. Mag. fol. 2986 

 and Eng. Bot. Sup. fol. 2646) Crocus aureus. I have given my reasons, at page 

 144, for considering the Crocus aureus of Flora Graeca distinct from Crocus 

 lagenaeflorus, and I still retain this opinion. The other species, my Crocus argen- 

 teus, is called in the latter work (Eng. Bot. Sup. fol. 2645) Crocus praecox ; but 

 though C- argenteus is quoted as a synonym, no reason is assigned for the adop- 

 tion of this new name. It is identified in the other work (Bot. Mag. fol. 2991) 

 with the Crocus minimus (Red. Lil. vol. 2, tab. 81) of Redoute ; this is cer- 

 tainly a very happy conjecture of my valued friend Dr. Hooker, and I should 

 be disposed to agree with him so far, as to consider C. minimus to be the form 

 assumed by C. pusillus (to which I have stated, page 455, my C. argenteus to 

 be nearly allied) in Corsica, the habitat of C. minimus, had not the represen- 

 tation of the root by Redoute been such as to make it impossible, unless an 

 error in the figure is admitted, for the bulb is drawn without the characteristic 

 circular division of its coat ; a mistake into which the artist in English Botany 

 has also fallen. The bulbs of C. argenteus found at Barton have that character. 

 — The further investigation respecting these Suffolk Crocuses made in these works 

 almost satisfies me that Sir James Smith was wrong in supposing the C. Maesia- 

 cus (called by him C. reticulatus) to be one of the species growing in Sir Henry 

 Bunbury's Park.— On the Plate of the Supplement to English Botany on which 

 the C. lagenaeflorus is figured, is represented a flower of a Yellow Crocus with 

 stripes on the bases of its petals, and which I am informed was taken from a 

 specimen received with the others ; this is doubtless the plant which was mentioned 

 to me (see page 438) as C. luteus ; it .may be that species, or if not, it is a distinct 

 variety of C. aureus ; if the latter, it will be new to our gardens. 



