CRO'CUS VERSICOLOR. 
PARTY-COLOURED CROCUS. 
Class. Order. 
TRIANDR1A. MONOGYNIA. 
Natural Order. 
irideje. 
Native of 
Height. 
Flowers in 
Duration. 
Introduced 
S. Europe. 
5 inches. 
March . 
Perennial. 
in 1629. 
No. 151. 
The term Crocus is extremely ancient, and it can- 
not be surprising if a few of the attempts to elucidate 
its derivation be somewhat at variance with truth. 
Some authors have conceived that the word origi- 
nated from the Greek kroke', a thread ; in allusion, 
evidently, to its thread-like style ; and not to any 
part of the stamens, as intimated by a modern writer. 
Others think it may have come from Coriscus, a 
city of Cilicia. 
There is scarcely a flower of the garden, with 
which every one claims a more friendly acquaintance 
than with those of the Crocus. In all our visits we 
meet them with pleasure ; but how few amongst us 
enquire by what means they have been sheltered 
from the severity of the past winter; or have thought 
of exploring their residence, through that dreary 
season. 
Of the three principal divisions into which roots 
have been distributed, — bulbous, tuberous, and fib- 
rous; the bulbous, or bulb-bearing root, is by far 
the most interesting. 
Though a bulb be familiarly spoken of as a root, 
it should be distinctly understood that it is not so ; 
