It is generally cultivated in pots, in light undunged earth, or in a mixture of loam and lime rubbish, and kept in frames, or on the front shelf of a green-house, where it may have plenty of air in the summer, but guarded against too much moisture in the winter.
May be raised from seeds in the same manner as the round-leaved Cyclamen already figured in this work, p. n. 4.
Flowers early in the spring, and is admirably well adapted to decorate the parlour or study.
Varies with fragrant flowers, and the eye more or less red.
[45]
~Crocus vernus. Spring Crocus.~
_Cla.s.s and Order_
~Triandria Monogynia.~
_Generic Character._
_Corolla_ 6-part.i.ta, aequalis. _Stigmata_ convoluta.
_Specific Character and Synonyms._
CROCUS _vernus_ foliis latioribus margine patulo. _Jacq. Fl. Austr.
Vol. 5. app. t. 36._ _Lin. Syst. Vegetab. p. 83. var. sativ._
CROCUS vernus latifolius. _Bauh. Pin. 65, 66._
The Yellow Crocus. _Parkins. Parad. p. 166._
[Ill.u.s.tration: 45]
LINNaeUS considers the Crocus, or Saffron of the shops, which blows invariably in the autumn, and the spring Crocus, with its numerous varieties (of which PARKINSON, in his Garden of Pleasant Flowers, enumerates no less than twenty-seven) as one and the same species; other Botanists have considered them as distinct, particularly PROF. JACQUIN, whose opinion on this subject we deem the most decisive.
We have figured the yellow variety, which is the one most commonly cultivated in our gardens, though according to the description in the _Flora Austriaca_, the _Crocus vernus_, in its wild state, is usually purple or white.
The cultivation of this plant is attended with no difficulty; in a light sandy loam, and dry situation, the roots thrive, and multiply so much as to require frequent reducing; they usually flower about the beginning of March, and whether planted in rows, or patches, on the borders of the flower-garden, or mixed indiscriminately with the herbage of the lawn, when expanded by the warmth of the sun, they produce a most brilliant and exhilirating effect.
The most mischievous of all our common birds, the sparrow, is very apt to commit great depredations amongst them when in flower, to the no small mortification of those who delight in their culture; we have succeeded in keeping these birds off, by placing near the object to be preserved, the skin of a cat properly stuffed: a live cat, or some bird of the hawk kind confined in a cage, might perhaps answer the purpose more effectually, at least in point of duration.
[46]
~Leucojum vernum. Spring Snow-Flake.~
_Cla.s.s and Order._
~Hexandria Monogynia.~
_Generic Character._
_Corolla_ campaniformis, 6-part.i.ta, apicibus incra.s.sata, _Stigma_ simplex.
_Specific Character and Synonyms._
LEUCOJUM _vernum_ spatha uniflora, stylo clavato. _Lin. Syst. Vegetab.
p. 316._
LEUCOJUM bulbosum vulgare. _Bauh. Pin. 55._
The great early bulbous Violet. _Park. Parad._
[Ill.u.s.tration: 46]
The blossoms of the _Leucojum_ and _Galanthus_, or Snow-Drop, are very similar at first sight, but differ very essentially when examined; the Snow-Drop having, according to the Linnaean description, a three-leaved nectary, which is wanting in the Leucojum; the two genera then being very distinct, it becomes necessary to give them different names; we have accordingly bestowed on the Leucojum the name of _Snow-Flake_, which, while it denotes its affinity to the Snow-Drop, is not inapplicable to the meaning of Leucojum.
As the spring Snow-Flake does not increase so fast by its roots, as the Snow-Drop, or even the summer Snow-Flake, so it is become much scarcer in our gardens; it may, indeed, be almost considered as one of our plantae rariores, though at the same time a very desirable one.
It does not flower so soon by almost a month, as the Snow-Drop; but its blossoms, which are usually one on each foot-stalk, sometimes two, are much larger, and delightfully fragrant.
It is found wild in shady places and moist woods in many parts of Germany and Italy. The most proper situation for it is a north or east border, soil a mixture of loam and bog earth; but by having it in different aspects, this, as well as other plants, may have its flowering forwarded or protracted, and, consequently, the pleasure of seeing them in blossom, considerably lengthened.
In a favourable soil and situation, it propagates tolerably fast by offsets.
[47]
~Amaryllis formosissima. Jacobaean Amaryllis.~
_Cla.s.s and Order._
~Hexandria Monogynia.~
_Generic Character._
_Corolla_ 6-petala, campanulata. _Stigma_ trifidum.
_Specific Character and Synonyms._
AMARYLLIS _formosissima_ spatha uniflora, corolla inaequali petalis tribus, staminibus pistilloque declinatis. _Lin. Syst. Vegetab. p. 320._