The Purple Crocus 



undulating character of the surface, which 

 was emphasised so beautifully by the 

 stripes in the Yellow Crocus, but all 

 special delicacy of petal outline is entirely 

 wanting. 



Again, we have said that colour is the 

 grand source of expression in the Crocus, 

 and unfortunately in this respect the 

 Purple Crocus too often appears at a 

 disadvantage. In a garden, especially if 

 it be thinly planted, the purplish-brown 

 of the naked earth strikes a discord with 

 its hues. Then the colour is apt to be 

 ill-formed, uncertain, and disappointing on 

 a close inspection. Its tints are often 

 improved under the gardeners hands. 

 We sometimes see lovely specimens in 

 the markets, and the colour comes out 

 most brilliantly when the flower is as- 

 sociated with its yellow and white re- 

 lations on a garden border.^ Do we, 

 then, mean to assert a real inferiority in 

 this flower.'^ Not at all, except in the 

 particulars we have mentioned. We have 

 made this comparison with a double object 



^ The commonest of the White Garden Crocuses is 

 only a pale variety of C. vernus. [The White Garden 

 Crocuses are varieties of C. vermis^ but not of the 

 Nottingham form of C. vernus of which he is speaking. 

 They are chiefly derived from the large Southern variety, 

 C. obovatus — H. N. E.] 



31 



