AUTUMNAL CROCUSES. 
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AUTUMNAL CROCUSES. 
Nat. Order. —Iridaceje. 
Generic Character. —Crocus, Tournefort.—Perigone corol- 
line, superior, funnel-shaped, the tube elongated, the limb six- 
parted, the interior lobes (petals) smaller, erecto-patent. 
Stamens three, inserted in the throat of the perigone, erect, in¬ 
cluded ; filaments thread-like ; anthers arrow-shaped, affixed by 
the base. Ovary inferior, obtusely three-sided, tliree-celled ; 
ovules numerous, in two rows in the inner angle of each cell, 
ascending, anatropous; style thread-like, elongated; stigmas 
three, dilated, wedge-shaped, fleshy, hooded, and finely toothed 
at the apex. Capsule membranous, three-sided, three-celled, 
loculicidally three-valved. Seeds numerous, sub-globose, the 
testa leathery, slightly fleshy, finely wrinkled at the hilum, the 
slender raphe excurrent at the apical chalaza. Embryo axile, 
much shorter than the horny albumen, the radicle extremity turn¬ 
ed towards the hilum below.—Stemless herbs, native of Europe, 
Central Asia, and the Mediterranean region; leaves narrowly 
linear; flowers radical, large and showy; ovaries in some de¬ 
gree subterranean; certain species cultivated for the peculiar 
qualities of the stigmas (saffron).—( Endlicher , Gen. Plant arum, 
1248.) 
Division i. — Involucrati. —Crocuses having an involucre below 
the flower. Sect. 5. Reticulati: bulb-coats reticulated. 
Crocus Cartwrightianus, Herbert. — Cartwright’s Crocus 
(Fig. 2).—Coats of the conn all softly membranous, reticulated 
with fine fibres above;on the outside, (obsolete coats at length with 
parallel fibres below), the sheathing coats about five in number, 
two affixed near the base, the zone of the roots situated between 
them, a third sometimes higher, interior, affixed to the middle 
of the corm, the two nearest to the foliaceous coats often 
spirally connate at the base; the foliaceous coats all elongated, 
broadly and flatly apiculate, the exterior affixed a quarter of an 
inch below the apex, the third and fourth connate (always ?) at 
the sheaths, the fifth semicircular at the base; leaves 6-8 or 
fewer, narrow, with the reflexed margin and the dorsal rib, 
densely ciliate, veins very slightly grooved, developed before the 
flowers, subsequently spread out and prostrate ; involucre two- 
flowered (flowers sometimes simultaneous), little shorter than 
the transparent spathe; bract acute, rolled round the tube, not 
tubular, equalling the spathe, growing white on the germen; 
tube exserted one and a half inch ; limb white or purpurascent, 
veins deep or pale purple at the base of the petals, the throat 
purpurascent outside and white within; beard white, petaloid, 
bases of sepals smooth; filaments white, smooth, inserted a 
quarter of an inch below the throat, anthers golden-yellow, 
more than three-quarters of an inch long ; style truncate, 
scented, deep scarlet, the lobes divided to the throat of the 
tube, thickened above, stigmas shortly incised; seeds brownish- 
purple, large in this genus, angularly roundish. —Herbert in 
Journal of the Horticultural Society , ii., 264. 
Division m.—Nudiflori. —Crocuseshaving no involucre. Sect. 2. 
Parallelo-fibrosi: bulb-coats with parallel fibres. 
Crocus pulchellus , Herbert. — Pretty Crocus (Fig. 1).— 
Principal coat of the corm membranous, with a ring at the 
circumcissile base ciliated with fibres; spathe concealed; bract 
broad, strap-shaped, scarcely equalling the spathe; tube 
slender, exserted two and a half inches ; limb one inch or more 
in length, pale ccerulescent, veins ^deeper; throat slightly 
bearded, orange-coloured; filaments saffron-yellow, minutely 
hispid; stigmas multifid, pale saffron-coloured, finally surpass¬ 
ing the white anthers; leaves broad, green, smooth, with a 
white streak ; seeds small, roundish— Herb. 1. c. 
Crocus Boryanus, Gay.— Bory’s Crocus (Fig. 3).—Sheath¬ 
ing coats two, persistent, affixed near the base, smooth, soft, at 
length parallelly lacerated below; outer foliaceous smooth, af¬ 
fixed about or below the middle ; spathe acute, about equalling 
the bract, germen pale, partly or commonly quite exserted 
with the scape; tube white, more than two inches long, free; 
limb one or more than two inches long, white or rather cream- 
coloured, the lobes often with three purple streaks on the out¬ 
side at the base, rarely throughout the whole length; throat 
orange within, pubescent at the base of the petals ; filaments 
inserted at the mouth of the tube, yellow, pubescent, a quarter 
of an inch long, anthers about three-eighths of an inch, white; 
not equalling, or rarely, the slenderly and deeply multifid, 
straight, more or less deep orange-scarlet stigmas ; leaves 4-8, 
narrow, smooth, a little preceding the rather late autumnal blos¬ 
soms; flowers 1-5, three nearly simultaneous; capsules small; 
seeds small, pyriform, chestnut-brown.— Herb. 1. c. 
Syn. —C. Boryanus, Gay; C. ionicus, Herbert; C. veneris, 
Tappeiner; C. caspius, Fischer in Herb— A.H. 
B ESCRIPTION—Very ornamental dwarf herbs having solid bulbs or conns, grassy foliage? 
and showy flowers. C. Cartwrightianus (fig. 2) is a rather small dwarf species, growing 
about three inches high, and varying much in the colour of its flowers, which are usually 
white, more or less stained inside with purple lines, sometimes pure white, often of a pale, and 
sometimes a pretty rich purple; the throat is never yellow. It is a free flowering variety, the 
blossoms being fragrant, and expanding readily at the dull cheerless season in which they are 
produced, which is usually October and November ; though sometimes, according to Ur. Herbert, 
extending to January. C. pulchellus (fig. 1) is a larger and more showy kind, growing four or 
five inches high, the flowers appearing quite before the leaves; the colour is a pale bluish 
pearl-colour with darker veins, the throat orange yellow, and the anthers white. It appears to 
be a very free grower, producing its flowers early in October. C. Boryanus (fig. 3) grows from 
three to four inches high, and has moderate sized flowers of a creamy white, the throat orange 
yellow, and the anthers white, the deep orange-scarlet stigmas being rendered very conspicuous 
by the pale ground-colour of the flowers; in some of the varieties, the base of the segments o± 
the limb is marked externally with dull purple lines. It is a late autumnal species, flowering 
towards the end of October and in November. 
History, &c. —These beautiful autumnal crocuses, along with several other equally orna¬ 
mental species, have been within the last few years collected together, and brought into notice 
by the lamented Dr. Herbert, who cultivated a most interesting collection of them in his 
garden at SpofForth, and made them a peculiar study, the result of which appears in a valuable 
paper on the species of Crocus published in the Journal of the Horticultural Society 1847. 
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