For the Alamannic leader, see
Chrocus.
For the nuclear reactor at École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, see
CROCUS.
Crocus (plural: crocus, crocuses) is a genus of perennial flowering plants, native to a large area from coastal
and subalpine areas of central and southern Europe (including the islands of the Aegean), North Africa and the Middle
East, across Central Asia to western China.
The genus Crocus is placed botanically in the iris family (Iridaceae). The plants
grow from corms and are mainly hardy perennials, and
are found a wide range of habitats, including woodland, scrub and meadows.
There are about eighty species of crocus (of which approximately 30 are cultivated). Their cup-shaped, solitary, salverform
flowers taper off into a narrow tube. Their color varies enormously, although lilac, mauve, yellow and white are predominant. The
grass-like, ensiform leaf shows generally a white central stripe along the leaf axis. The leaf
margin is entire. All crocuses typically have three stamens. The spice saffron is obtained from
the stigmas of Crocus sativus, an autumn/fall-blooming species.
The name of the genus is derived from the Greek κρόκος, krokos (attested in
Homer's Iliad, Book XIV, verse 347), this in turn being a
Semitic loanword (Hebrew karkom,
Aramaic kurkama, Persian and
Arabic kurkum, all meaning saffron or saffron yellow). In Greek, the word is also
used for the similarly colored egg yolk.
Misuses of the name crocus
Though some true crocus bloom with the fall (autumn) rains, after summer's heat and drought, the name autumn crocus is
often misused as a common name for Colchicum, which is in the lily family (Liliaceae), and which has six stamens; it is also (confusingly and incorrectly) known as meadow
saffron. The so-called prairie crocus (formerly Anemone patens, now
Pulsatilla patens or P. ludoviciana) belongs to the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae).
Crocus vernus 'Pickwick', a Dutch hybrid
|
Crocus 'E.A. Bowles',
a Chrysanthus hybrid
|
|
C. sieberi corms, showing the netlike papery outer covering
|
True autumn crocuses
Most true autumn crocus flower in September to November in the northern hemisphere. Some flower before their leaves
appear. Autumn/fall flowering species include: Crocus banaticus (syn. C. iridiflorus), C.cancellatus, C.
goulimyi, C. hadriaticus, C. kotschyanus (syn. C. zonatus), C. laevigatus, C. medius,
C. niveus, C. nudiflorus, C. ochroleucus, C. pulchellus, C. sativus (saffron crocus), C.
serotinus, C. speciosus, C. tournefortii. Crocus laevigatus has a long flowering-period which starts in
late autumn or early winter and may continue into February.
In cultivation
As one of the first flowers to bloom in spring, the large hybridized and selected "Dutch
crocus" are popular with gardeners. However, in areas where snow and frost occasionally occur in the early spring it is not
uncommon for early-flowering crocuses to suddenly wither and die from an unseasonable frost or snowfall.
Most crocus species and hybrids should be planted in a sunny position, in gritty, well-drained soil, although a few prefer
shadier sites in moist soil. Some are suitable for naturalising in grass. The corms should be planted about 3–4 cm deep; in
heavy soils a quantity of sharp grit should be dug in to improve drainage.
Some crocuses, especially C. tommasinianus and its selected forms and hybrids (such as 'Whitewell Purple' and 'Ruby
Giant') seed prolifically and are ideal for naturalising. They can, however, become weeds in
rock gardens, where they will often appear in the middle of choice, mat-forming alpine
plants and can be difficult to remove.
History
The first crocus seen in the Netherlands, where Crocus species are not native,
were corms brought back from the Holy Roman Emperor's ambassador to the Sublime Porte, A. Ghislain de Busbeq, in the 1560s. A few
corms were forwarded to Carolus Clusius at the botanical garden in Leiden. By 1620, the approximate date of Ambrosius
Bosschaert's painting (illustration, left), new garden varieties had been developed, such as the cream-colored crocus
feathered with bronze at the base of the bouquet, similar to varieties still in the market. Bosschaert, working from a
preparatory drawing to paint his composed piece, which spans the whole of Spring, exaggerated the crocus so that it passes for a
tulip, but its narrow, grasslike leaves give it away.
Species
Cloth of gold (
Crocus angustifolius)
from Curtis's Botanical Magazine 1803
The taxonomic characteristics are based mainly on the presence or absence of a prophyll (a
basal spathe) and the aspect of the style and the corm tunic.
1 Subgenus Crocus
- A. Section Crocus
-
- Series Kotschyani
- Crocus autranii
- Crocus gilanicus (discovered in 1973 and named after Gilan province in Iran where it was first found)
- Crocus karduchorum
- Crocus kotschyanus - Kotschy's crocus
- Crocus ochroleucus
- Crocus scharojanii
- Crocus vallicola
-
- Series Longiflori
Crocus serotinus subsp.
clusii
-
-
- Crocus goulimyi
- Crocus longiflorus - Italian crocus
- Crocus medius
- Crocus niveus
- Crocus serotinus - late crocus
-
- Series Scardici
- Crocus pelistericus
- Crocus scardicus
-
- Series Verni
Crocus vernus subsp.
vernus
Crocus vernus subsp.
albiflorus
-
-
- Crocus baytopiorum
- Crocus etruscus
- Crocus kosaninii
- Crocus tommasinianus - early crocus
- Crocus vernus - spring crocus, Dutch crocus
-
- Series Versicolores
- Crocus cambessedesii
- Crocus corsicus
- Crocus imperati
- Crocus malyi
- Crocus minimus
- Crocus versicolor - cloth-of-silver crocus
-
- Series Crocus
-
- Crocus hadriaticus
- Crocus mathewii
- Crocus moabiticus
- Crocus oreocreticus
- Crocus pallasii
- Crocus thomasii
- B. Section Nudiscapus
-
- Series Aleppici
- Crocus aleppicus
- Crocus boulosii
- Crocus veneris
- Crocus saris
- Series Biflori
- Crocus adanensis
- Crocus aerius
- Crocus almehensis
- Crocus biflorus - silvery crocus, Scotch crocus
- Crocus caspius
- Crocus chrysanthus - golden crocus
- Crocus cyprius
- Crocus danfordiae
- Crocus hartmannianus
- Crocus kerndorffiorum
- Crocus leichtlinii
- Crocus paschei
- Crocus pestalozzae
- Crocus wattiorum
-
- Series Carpetani
-
- Series Flavi
- Crocus antalyensis
- Crocus candidus
- Crocus flavus - yellow crocus
- Crocus graveolens
- Crocus hyemalis
- Crocus olivieri
- Crocus vitellinus
-
- Series Intertexti
-
- Series Laevigatae
- Crocus boryi
- Crocus laevigatus
- Crocus tournefortii
-
- Series Orientales
- Crocus alatavicus
- Crocus korolkowii - celandine crocus
- Crocus michelsonii
-
- Series Reticulati
- Crocus abantensis
- Crocus ancyrensis - Ankara crocus
- Crocus angustifolius - cloth-of-gold crocus
- Crocus cancellatus
- Crocus cvijicii
- Crocus dalmaticus
- Crocus gargaricus
- Crocus hermoneus
- Crocus reticulatus
- Crocus robertianus
- Crocus rujanensis
- Crocus sieberi - Cretan crocus
- Crocus sieheanus
-
- Series Speciosi
- Crocus speciosus - Bieberstein's crocus, large purple crocus
- Crocus pulchellus - hairy crocus
2. Subgenus Crociris
-
References
E.A. Bowles, "A Handbook of Crocus and Colchicum for Gardeners", Martin Hopkinson 1924
- Brian Mathew, Christopher Grey-Wilson, Bulbs, (ill. Marjorie Blamey), Collins, 1981
- Brian Mathew, Crocus: A Revision of the Genus Crocus, Timber Press, 1983. ISBN 0-917304-23-3
- Brian Mathew, Flowering Bulbs for the garden, Collingridge/Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 1987. ISBN 0-600-35175-0
External links
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