The flowers of this Medowe Saffron are larger and longer then the flowers of either the English or Hungarian, and almost as large as the last before mentioned, and of the same colour, but a little deeper, the spots and markes whereof are somewhat more easie to be seene euen a farre off, like vnto the flower of a Fritillaria, from whence it tooke his significatiue name: the leaues of this Medowe Saffron doe rise vp sooner then in any other of the Autumne kindes, for they are alwayes vp before Winter, and are foure or fiue in number, short rather then long, broad belowe, and pointed at the end, canaled or hollow, and standing round aboue the ground, one encompassing another at the bottome, like the great Spanish Starre Iacinth, called the Iacinth of Peru, but shorter, and of a pale or grayish greene colour, differing from the colour of all the other Medowe Saffrons: the roote is like the roote of the English or Hungarian without any difference, but that it groweth somewhat greater. It is one of the first Medowe Saffrons that flower in the Autumne. [Illustration: 1 _Colchicum Pannonicum._ The Hungarian Medow Saffron. 2 _Colchicum Byzantinum._ Medowe Saffron of Constantinople. 3 _Colchicum Lusitanicum Fritillaricum._ The checkerd Medowe Saffron of Portugall. 4 _Colchicum Neapolitanum Fritillaricum._ The checkerd Medowe Saffron of Naples. 5 _Colchicum Fritillaricum Chiense._ The Checkerd Medowe Saffron of Chio or Sio. 6 _Colchicum Hermodactylum._ Physicall Medowe Saffron. ] 7. _Colchicum Neapolitanum Fritillaricum._ The checkerd Medowe Saffron of Naples. This checkerd Medowe Saffron of Naples, is very like vnto the last recited checkerd Saffron of Portugall, but that the flower is somewhat larger, yet sometimes very little, or not at all: the greatest marke to distinguish them is, that the flowers of this are of a deeper colour, and so are the spots on the flowers likewise, which are so conspicuous, that they are discerned a great way off, more like vnto the flowers of a deepe Fritillaria, then the former, and make a goodlier and a more glorious shew: the leaues of this doe rise vp early after the flowers, and are somewhat longer, of a darker greene colour, yet bending to a grayish colour as the other, not lying so neatly or round, but stand vp one by another, being as it were folded together: neither of both these last named checkerd Medowe Saffrons haue giuen any seede in this Countrey, that euer I could learne or heare of, but are encreased by the roote, which in this is like the former, but a little bigger. 8. _Colchicum Fritillaricum Chiense._ The checkerd Medowe Saffron of Chio or Sio.