NOTES AND ABSTRACTS. 



777 



gardens, but has recently been reintroduced by the author. This little 

 Crocus is one of the smallest, of a delicate lilac but pale yellow outside, 

 feathered with purple. It flowers from October to March. 



A large proportion — ten — of the spring Crocuses have yellow 

 flowers, while in seven others the three outer segments are tinged 

 outside with yellow. Moreover, some of the typically lilac f rms, such 

 as aerius, a variety of reticulatus , or white, as candidus, have produced 

 yellow seedlings. Perhaps the golden shades may be more conspicu- 

 ous among withered grass, stones or bare earth, while the lilac shades 

 of the autumnal forms make a contrast with the browns and oranges 

 of fallen leaves. 



The spring Crocuses may be divided into two groups — (1) the 

 florist's and (2) the wild type. Most of the florist's forms belong to 

 C. vernus. From C. vernus there is a remarkable absence of yellow, but 

 ' G. Maw,' a white, has an orange tip to the three outer segments. In 

 some forms of vernus the tips are white or paler than the ground 

 colour — e.g. leucorhynchus and Leedsii. Among selfs, * Mont Blanc ' 

 (white), purpureus grandiflorus (purple), * L 'Unique ' (a rosy shade), 

 and ' Beauty ' (a soft mauve) are spoken well of. The next most 

 important are forms derived from C. aureus. The common yellow 

 Dutch crocus has been propagated for centuries solely by offsets. The 

 only other species made much of by the florists is C. versicolor, in 

 which the inner segments are nearly as much feathered as the outer. 



Among true species, and neglecting the rarer forms, may be men- 

 tioned C. Imperati, with two varieties, monophyllus , coming through 

 the ground covered with one spathe only; and diphyllus, covered with 

 two spathes. Monophyllus is taller, and begins to flower in January; 

 while diphyllus has larger flowers and great variety of feathering, and, 

 though sometimes flowering at Christmas, is generally later than 

 monophyllus. 



G. Sieheri (bluish lilac) is another crocus for every garden. 

 G. Tomasinianus (shades of lilac from nearly white to amethyst) is a 

 veritable but beautiful weed when once it begins to seed. G. chrys- 

 anthus is divided into three classes — (1) the type, one of the first in the 

 New Year, with small orange-yellow plumes; (2) pallidus, sulphur or 

 white, feathered bronze, purple, grey, or blue; (3) fusco-tinctus, with 

 pointed segments striped or suffused brown or grey, with dark grey 

 anthers and yellow stigma. C. hiflorus has two forms, one the 

 Scotch Crocus, with five dark purple lines on a white ground, is sterile; 

 the other, the Itahan form, is smaller, yellowish outside marked with 

 three lines, and lavender within. G. Balansae, orange, is a good doer. 

 G. KoroUowi flowers early, and is of a peculiarly brilhant yellow. 

 G. etruscus, buff outside, lavender within, requires replanting oftener 

 than most, or it becomes crowded. G. ancyrensis is like chrysanthiis. 

 but without the black spots in the anthers. 



Autumnal Crocuses. — With the exception of two scarce species, 

 C. vallicola and G. Scharojani, G. zonatus is the first to flower m 

 September with flowers of a soft rosy lilac and a zone of I'icli omn-*^ 



