A yellow crocus flavus heralds early spring in Zagori

Posted on February 23, 2016 by zagori

Crocus flavus or simply yellow crocus is a species of the Crocus genus belonging to the Iridaceae family. It grows wild on the slopes of Zagori, among other areas in Greece

Crocus flavus or simply yellow crocus is a species of the Crocus genus belonging to the Iridaceae family. It grows wild on the slopes of Zagori, as well as other areas in Greece and the Balkans, and has fragrant bright orange-yellow flowers. It’s size varies between 5–6 cm (2–2 in). The Latin specific epithet flavus means “pure yellow”

Crocus flavus is so richly coloured that E.A. Bowles likened it to a little flame while Alfred, Lord Tennyson to “the groundflame of the crocus breaks the mould” and a … few years earlier Sophocles in Οἰδίπους ἐπὶ Κολωνῷ (Oedipus at Colonus) wrote:

θάλλει δ᾽ οὐρανίας ὑπ᾽ ἄ-
χνας ὁ καλλίβοτρυς κατ᾽ ἦμαρ αἰεὶ
νάρκισσος, μεγάλαιν θεαῖν
ἀρχαῖον στεφάνωμ᾽, ὅ τε
χρυσαυγὴς κρόκος

Here, when dawn arrives, and the morning dew
falls from the sky,
narcissus the magnificent blooms,
with flowers like grapes,
an ancient crown for the two goddesses,
as well as the golden-blonde crocus

yellow crocus heralds early spring in Zagori | Crocus flavus or simply yellow crocus is a species of the Crocus genus belonging to the Iridaceae family. It grows wild on the slopes of Zagori, among other areas in Greece and the Balkans and has fragrant bright orange-yellow flowers. It's size varies between 5–6 cm