Am.  Jour.  Ptiarm.l 
March.  1900.  / 
Crocus  and  its  Adulterants. 
119 
CROCUS  AND  SOME -OF  ITS  ADULTERANTS. 
By  William  Stair  Weakley. 
The  following  studies  were  carried  out  in  the  Botanical  Labora- 
tory of  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy  at  the  suggestion  of 
Professor  Henry  Kraemer,  .and  to  whom  I  am  indebted  for  sugges- 
tions in  regard  to  the  work.  The  studies  are  based  upon  natural 
specimens  of  Crocus  sattvus,  L.,  grown  in  Lancaster  County,  Pa., 
which  were  furnished  by  Mr.  Joseph  L.  Lemberger,  of  Lebanon ; 
and  upon  herbarium  specimens  of  Calendula  officinalis,  L.,  and 
Catthamus  tinctonus,  L.,  in  the  Martindale  Herbarium  of  the  Phila- 
delphia College  of  Pharmacy. 
Crocus  Sativus,  Linne. — The  two  parts  of  the  illustration,  as  given 
in  Plate  I,  represent  a  longitudinal  section  of  the  plant,  so  as  to 
show  more  fully  its  internal  structure  from  roots  to  stigma. 
In  the  plant  we  find  the  roots  originating  in  the  lower  half  of  the 
corm  and  penetrating  through  its  tissues  and  passing  into  the  soil 
(see  8).  Around  the  epidermis  of  the  living  corm  are  found  numer- 
ous brownish-colored  layers  with  fine  longitudinal  fibres.  These 
layers  represent  the  remains  of  previous  years'  growth  (see  7).  The 
eaves  arise  at  the  apex  near  the  centre  of  the  corm,  are  nearly  erect 
and  surrounded  by  a  sheath  of  membranous  scales.  These  leaves 
vary  in  number  from  six  to  nine,  are  4-6  inches  long,  linear,  acute, 
entire,  stiff,  curved  outwards,  smooth,  shining,  deep  green,  with  a 
white  depressed  midrib ;  sessile  and  form  an  erect  tuft  which  is 
closely  invested  in  its  lower  part  by  four  or  five  large,  broad,  thin, 
tough,  membranous,  sheathing  scales. 
The  flowers  may  be  either  solitary  or  two  together,  and  are  borne 
on  an  erect  short  scape  from  a  leaf  axil,  closely  enveloped  by  a  deli- 
cate membranous  sheath  which  is  trifid  at  the  apex,  presenting  a 
somewhat  serrate  appearance,  and  it  being  delicately  veined  and 
united  near  its  base. 
The  stamens  are  three  in  number  and  are  inserted  in  the  mouth 
of  the  tube  opposite  the  outer  segments  ;  the  anthers  are  linear, 
longer  than  the  filaments,  sagittate  at  the  base,  blunt  at  apex  (see 
4)  and  of  a  bright  orange-yellow  color.  It  may  be  noted  that  Car- 
son, in  his  Medical  Botany,  figures  the  innate  anthers  as  having  an 
acute  apex.  On  the  contrary,  they  are  blunt  with  somewhat 
rounded  edges. 
