Editing Crocus (section)

=== History ===
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| image1=BL Egerton 747 f. 24v.jpg|caption1=''Croci oriental''<br />[[Tractatus de Herbis]] ca.&nbsp;1300–1330|alt1=Illustration of crocus from illuminated manuscript dated between 1300 and 1330| width1={{#expr: (150 * 1900 /1425) round 0}}
| image2=Gercrocrop.jpg|caption2=Crocuses<br />[[John Gerard]] 1597|alt2=Illustration of crocus from John Gerard's Historie of Plants 1597]| width2={{#expr: (150 * 1900 /1425) round 0}}
| image3=Hortus Eystettensis, 1640 (BHL 45339 209) - Classis Aestiva 57.jpg|caption3=Crocuses<br />''[[Hortus Eystettensis]]'' 1613|alt3=Crocuses and other flowers from the Hortus Eystettensis of 1613| width3={{#expr: (150 * 1900 /1425) round 0}}
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The crocus was well known to the ancients,{{sfn|Caiola|Canini|2010}} being described at least as early as [[Theophrastus]] (c. 371{{snd}}c. 287 BC),{{efn|As a perfume (ἀρωμάτων) "καὶ πρὸς τούτοις τὸ κρόκινον· βέλτιστος δ’ ἐν Αἰγίνῃ καὶ Κιλικίᾳ (the saffron-perfume; the crocus which produces this is best in Aegina and Cilicia)". He also refers to the crocus as a spice (at 34), the word being interchangeable for either use{{sfn|Liddell|Scott|1996b}}}}{{sfn|Negbi|1989}} and was introduced into Britain by the Romans, where the saffron crocus was used as a [[dyestuff]]. It was reintroduced into Western Europe by the [[Crusaders]]. The crocus is mentioned in mediaeval and later [[herbals]], one of the earliest being the 14th century ''[[Tractatus de Herbis]].''{{sfn|BL|2022}}{{sfn|Pavord|2005|p=111}} [[William Turner (naturalist)|William Turner]] (1548) states that the crocus is referred to as saffron in English, implying that only ''C. sativus'' was known at that time.{{sfn|Turner|1548}} However, by 1597 [[John Gerard]] writes of "sundry sorts" and uses the term saffron and crocus as interchangeable. He included both spring and autumn flowering crocus, but distinguished Wild Saffron (Crocus) from Meadow Saffron ([[Colchicum]]). He described eleven forms. Some of his specimens were obtained from [[Carolus Clusius|Clusius]].{{sfn|Gerard|1597}}{{sfn|Kerndorff et al|2016}} In the following century, [[John Parkinson (botanist)|John Parkinson]] in a more detailed account was more careful to include separate chapters for ''Colchicum'', with the common name of meadow saffron, from ''Crocus'' or saffron. Parkinson (1656) states that there are "divers sorts of saffrons" describing 27 spring flowering plants and 4 autumn flowering ones, pointing out that only one of those was the true saffron crocus, which he called ''Crocus verus sativus autumnalis''.{{sfn|Parkinson|1656}} Similar accounts are found in continental European herbals, including those of [[Matthias de l'Obel|l'Obel]] in [[Flanders]] (1576){{sfn|l'Obel|1576}} and [[Basilius Besler|Besler]]'s ''[[Hortus Eystettensis]]'' in [[Bavaria]] (1613).{{sfn|Besler|1640}}

The genus ''Crocus'' was first formally described by [[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]] in 1753, with three [[taxa]], and two species, [[Crocus sativus|''C. sativus'']] ([[type species]]), [[var.]] ''officinalis'' (now treated as a synonym of ''C. sativus'') and var. ''vernus'' (now [[Crocus vernus|''C. vernus'']]) and ''C. bulbocodium'' (now ''[[Romulea bulbocodium]]''). Thus Linnaeus recognised two taxa that are accepted as separate species in modern classifications, one vernal and one autumnal crocus, but incorrectly assumed they were only varieties of a single species, while his second species was actually from a closely related genus that was only recognised later (1772).{{sfn|Maratti|1772}} However, a subsequent re-examination of Linnaeus's specimens suggested the presence of several different species that he did not recognise as being separate.{{sfn|Peruzzi et al|2013}} [[Linnaeus' system]], based on sexual characteristics, ''Crocus'' was classified as Triandra Monogynia (Three [[stamen]]s, Single [[Gynoecium|pistil]]).{{sfn|Linnaeus|1753}} Linnaeus's system was supplanted by the "natural" system which used a [[hierarchy]] of [[taxonomic ranks]] based on weighting of the importance of structural characteristics of the plant. [[Antoine Laurent de Jussieu|Jussieu]]  (1789) placed the genus Crocus in his ''Ordo'' ([[Family (biology)|family]]) Irides or ''Les iris'', as a member of the class ''Stamina epigyna'' (stamens inserted above the ovary) as part of the [[monocotyledon]]s, the first level of the division of the [[flowering plant]]s.{{sfn|Jussieu|1789}} 
[[File:Linnaeus crocus.jpg|thumb|upright|center|[[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]]'s description of ''Crocus'' 1753|alt=Page from Linnaeus' 1753 work describing Crocus ]]
One of the first monographs of the genus appeared in 1809, by [[Adrian Hardy Haworth|Haworth]],{{sfn|Haworth|1820}} followed in 1829 by that of [[Joseph Sabine|Sabine]],{{sfn|Sabine|1830}}{{sfn|Kerndorff et al|2016}} and [[William Herbert (botanist)|Herbert]] in 1847.{{sfn|Herbert|1847}} In 1853, [[John Lindley|Lindley]] continued the placement of ''Crocus'' as one of 53 genera in [[Iridaceae]], which he included in a higher order of monocotyledons, the Narcissales.{{sfn|Lindley|1853|p=161}} [[John Gilbert Baker|Baker]] published a monograph on the genus in 1874, adopting a very different schema to that of Herbert.{{sfn|Baker|1874}} In 1883, [[Bentham & Hooker system|Bentham and Hooker]] described the Irideae (Iridaceae) as having more than 700 species, and divided it into 3 tribes and further into subtribes. [[Tribe (biology)|Tribe]] Sysyrinchieae as having 2 subtribes, including Ixieae. The latter was [[Circumscription (taxonomy)|circumscribed]] with four genera, ''Crocus'', ''[[Syringodea]]'', ''Galaxia'' (''[[Moraea]]'') and ''[[Romulea]]''.{{sfn|Bentham|Hooker|1883|p=693}} This circumscription has remained stable since, with the exception of ''Moraea'' which properly belongs in a separate tribe. The most influential monograph of the nineteenth century was that of [[George Maw|Maw]] (1886), which forms the basis of modern understanding of the genus. Maw built on the work of Herbert, rejecting Baker's classification.{{sfn|Maw|1886|p=22}} The availability of molecular phylogenetic methods in the late twentieth century has shown that the Iridaceae properly belong within the order [[Asparagales]].{{sfn|APG I|1998}}