Colourful Crocuses

Crocuses
- http://www.crocus.co.uk/plants/_/crocus-mixed-colours/classid.1000000340/

Clade - Angiosperms

Order - Asparagales

Family - Iridaceae

Genus - Crocus

The Crocus is a small flower, much alike the primrose, and I think it is extremely pretty. I love the plethora of colours that this variety of plant comes in, and I think they lighten up country parks and flower meadows beautifully.

Crocuses are perennial plants belonging to the Iris family (Iridaceae), which is made up of 90 species, all of which grow from vertical, swollen underground stems, known as "corms". Crocuses are notoriously hardy little plants, and flower in late winter-early spring, and there are even some species which flower in the autumn. Crocuses are not however, a native British species; they are invasive, and were probably introduced for cultivation or ornamental purposes. They are, in fact, native to southern European regions, north Africa, central Asia and the Middle-East.

Crocuses can grow in woodlands, meadows, parks, under hedgerows, on riverbanks and even on alpine tundra. They are small, cup-shaped flowers, and may be found in lilac, mauve, yellow, white and pink. These flowers also have three stamens. Here's a fact that perhaps you won't know about Crocuses; the rather expensive spice "Saffron" which is often used in cooking, is derived from the stigmas of Crocus sativus, which is one of the autumn species of the plant.

Crocus leaves and their flowers are protected from the effects of frost by a waxy cuticle, and as such these flowers are able to bloom and survive during late winter-early spring, and they can even survive a light snowfall. Crocuses form a vital winter resource for numerous species, including voles and mice, who may nibble on the corms throughout the winter. These flowers are also hugely important for pollinating insects, and in particular bees, in the early spring, when temperatures are still low and other wildflowers have not yet emerged... The chalice-shaped flowers, with their "encasing" petals, produce a slightly warmer environment within the flower than outside; the goblet arrangement of the petals raises the temperature by 10C, which encourages the flow of nectar, and provides a vital source of nectar and pollen for the earliest emerging bees.

Myths:
"Krokus" was a mortal Greek youth who was transformed by the Gods into a plant bearing his name, as they were unimpressed with his love affair with "Smilax", a nymph.