TRIANDRIA. MONOGYNIA. Crocus. 
93 
(E. Bot. 560. E.)' — Woodv. 237— Kniph. 1— Sheldr. 14— Mill. III. — Trag . 
919— Lon. i. 78. 2 —Black iv. 155— Cam. Epit. 935— Park. 253— Gars. 
504— Matth. 1214 —J. B. i. a. 519—Dod. 744 —Lob. Ohs. 362. i.; Ic. i. 
637. 2— Ger. Em. 907— H. Ox. xiiL 5. row 2. 1— Ger. 759. 
(A hardy* ever-green plant* with smooth leaves. E.) Flower not properly 
growing out of the leaf* but on a fruit-stalk from the disk of the leaf* 
which is immersed beneath the outer coat* from whence it may with ease 
be dissected. Woodw. Stem, tough* woody* rigid* branched* scored* two 
to three feet high. Blossom yellowish green* small. Berries red. Mr. 
Stackhouse remarks* that the three outer calyx leaves are larger and rigid* 
the three inner smaller; these he considers as petals* and he found a barren 
flower falling from the plant* which had only three leaves* corresponding 
with those of the calyx. 
Butcher's Broom. Knee Holly. Prickly Pettigree. (Irish: Brus- 
glagh. E.) Woods* thickets* and hedges. Hethel Woods near Norwich. 
Mr. Crowe. Heath near Lowestoft. Mr. Woodward. New Forest near 
Stony Cross. (East hill* Hastings. Dr. Bostock. Woods at Bothwell. 
Hopkirk. E.) S. March—April.* 
(Var. 1. Branches wide apart; leaves elliptical* on both sides tapering. 
R. aculeatus (3. FI. Brit. R. laxus. Linn. Tr. v. 3. but not sufficiently 
distinct to be named as a new species. 
At Stoke* near Gosport* plentifully. Mr. Caley. E.) 
CRO'CUS.f Bloss. with six equal divisions : Summits con¬ 
volute. 
C. sati'vus. Sheath one valve* rising from the root: tube of the blossom 
very long: summit in three deep strap-shaped segments pro¬ 
truding beyond the blossom. E. Bot. 
Var. 1. officinalis. Leaves narrower* rolled in at the edges. Flowers in 
autumn. 
(E. Bot. 343. E.)— Matth. 69. 70 -Mill. Ill— Trag. 763—. Fuchs. 441— 
J. B. ii. 637— Wale. — Sheldr. (Saffron) — Tourn. 184— Ger. 123. 1. 2— 
j Dod. 213— Lob. Obs. 68— Ger. 151— H. Ox. iv. 2. 1— Blaclcw. 144. 1—• 
Park. Par. 167. 
(Blossoms large* shorter than the leaves* purplish blue; filaments purple; 
summits deep orange* fragrant. Germen cylindrical. E.) 
* In Italy it is made into besoms, with which butchers sweep their blocks. Baxters 
place the boughs round their bacon and cheese to defend them from mice, the 
prickly leaves being impenetrable. It will not bear the winters of Sweden. (Ettmiiiler 
recommends it in scrophulous tumours and ulcers, a drachm of the powdered root to be 
taken every morning. The young shoots, which spear out of the ground like asparagus, 
were formerly eaten as such. It was considered to possess diuretic and deobstruent 
virtues, useful in the early stages of dropsy, though now excluded from the Materia 
Medica. The roots planted under tall trees in large plantations, will make useful ever¬ 
green clumps. This is a much more expeditious mode of cultivation than from seeds, 
which lie a year in the ground before they vegetate, and grow very slowly. E.) 
+ (KpoKJ), a thread ; from the conspicuous filaments of the stamens : or, according to 
fabulous history, from the youth Crocus, who was consumed by an ardent passion for 
Smilax* and metamorphosed into this flaming flower. 
“ Et Crocon in parvos versum cum Smilace flores 
“ Pnetereo.” Ov. Met. lib. 4. 
