Editing Crocus (section)

=== Phylogeny ===

The genus ''Crocus'' belongs to the [[Monocotyledon|monocot]] [[Family (biology)|family]] [[Iridaceae]] (iris family), specifically the large subfamily [[Crocoideae]]. Within that subfamily, crocus is placed on the [[Tribe (biology)|tribe]], Ixieae (synonym Croceae),{{efn|[[Peter Goldblatt|Goldblatt]] originally described this tribe in 2006,{{sfn|Goldblatt et al|2006}} but in 2011 renamed it Ixieae, having discovered that this name had precedence{{sfn|Goldblatt|Manning|2011}}}} one of five. The Ixieae are then subdivided into subtribes, with the genera ''Crocus'', ''[[Romulea]]'' and ''[[Syringodea]]'' forming subtribe Romuleinae. The Romuleinae have been characterised within the Ixieae by progressively reduced aerial stems.{{sfn|Goldblatt et al|1998|p=312}}  solitary flowers on the stem branches and woody tunics on the corms. They also often have divided style branches. However, ''Crocus'' corm tunics are fibrous and membranous rather than woody as in ''Syringodea.'' Also, ''Crocus'' has a ridged and often keeled abaxial leaf surface, while that of ''Syringodea'' is rounded, and the midline adaxial translucency of ''Crocus'' is lacking in ''Syringodea''. ''[[Romulea]]'' is principally distinguished from the other two genera by generally having aerial stems or at least an ovary at ground level, compared with the other acaulescent genera, other differences include unifacial rather than bifacial leaves and the pollen structure.{{sfn|Phillips|Rix|1989|p=31}}{{sfn|Goldblatt et al|1998|p=312}}

Within the Romuleinae, ''Crocus'' is a [[sister group]] to ''Syringodea'', the two genera forming a sister group to ''Romulea''.{{sfn|Goldblatt et al|2006}}{{sfn|Petersen et al|2008}}{{sfn|Harpke et al|2013}}