CROCUS, generic name of a large number of hardy bulbous
flowering plants of the family Iridaceae. Per Wendelbo and Brian
Mathew have reported and fully described nine wild species of
Crocus L. from Persia and some adjacent areas (pp. 2-11; see
also Parsa, pp. 114-21; Wendelbo, pp. 60-63; Matine, pp. 3-4;
Ghahreman, pls. 61, 93, 540, 541, 542, 1176; cf. Schlimmer, pp.
168-69). Crocus almehensis Brickell & Mathew, found on Ālma
mountain near Golestān national forest park in northeastern
Gorgān. Crocus biflorus Miller (according to Wendelbo and
Mathew, often called Crocus aërius in connection with Persia;
cf. Pārsā: C. aërius Herbert, identified as a distinct species
found between Ḵosrowābād and Kerend in Kurdistan), which grows
in the hills north of Tabrīz and around Qalāja in Kermānšāh.
Crocus michelsonii B. Fedtschenko, found on the steppes of
northern Khorasan. Crocus korolkowii Regel ex Maw, which grows
in Afghanistan, western Pakistan, and Tajikistan. Crocus caspius
Fischer & Meyer, found from sea level to