The saffron crocus is a handsome flower, but somewhat capricious. Dr. Forbes Watson writes: "We look at the few well selected flowers in our hand and let our mind wander in the depths of those fair-striped cups, their color so fresh, so cool, so delicate, and yet not too cool, with that central yellow stamen-column and the stigma emerging from it like a fiery orange lump. The Purple Crocus, partly from the full materials for color-contrast afforded by its interior, partly from the exceeding delicacy of tint, the lilac stripes and markings, the transparent veins and the pale watery lake which lies at the bottom of the cup, seem to bear us away to some enchanted spot, a fairy-land of color where no shadow ever falls--a land of dim eternal twilight and never fading flowers. Note, too, the differences between the Crocuses with regard to the stigma. In the Purple Crocus, where it is needed to complete the harmony of the flower, it rises long and flame-tipped out of the tall bundle of yellow stamens. Notice also the curve of the outside of the Purple Crocus cup in a well-selected flower, and observe how quiet and solemnly beautiful it is in perfect harmony with the general expression." According to legend, the flower derived its name from a beautiful youth, Crocus, who was transformed into the flower. His love, Smilax, was changed at the same time into the delicate vine of that name. Another legend says that the flower sprang from the blood of the infant Crocus, who was accidentally killed by a disk thrown by the god Mercury. The Egyptians encircled their wine-cups with the saffron crocus; the Greeks and Romans adorned the nuptial couch with the saffron crocus; the robes of Hymen, god of marriage, were saffron-hued; and poets called the dawn saffron, or crocus-colored. Shakespeare, therefore, had authority for "the saffron wings of Iris." Saffron is an herb of the sun and is under the rule of Leo. CUCKOO-FLOWER (_Lychnis Flos cuculi_): Shakespeare mentions "cuckoo-flowers" in "King Lear,"[69] in company with troublesome weeds. _Cordelia_ remarks: Crown'd with rank fumiter and furrow-weeds, With burdocks, hemlocks, nettles, cuckoo-flowers, Darnel, and all the idle weeds that grow On our sustaining corn. [69] Act IV, Scene IV. Shakespeare's cuckoo-flower is identified as the Ragged Robin, so called from its finely cut blue petals which have a ragged appearance. It is also known as the meadow campion, or Meadow Pink. Parkinson says: "Feathered Campions are called _Armoraria pratensis_ and _Flos cuculi_. Some call them in English Crow-flowers and Cuckowe Flowers, and some call the double hereof The Fair Maid of France."