Higher classification Crocus | Subfamily Crocoideae Scientific name Crocus flavus Rank Species | |
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Similar Crocus, Crocus chrysanthus, Crocus tommasinianus, Iridaceae, Crocus sieberi | ||
Crocus flavus ligusticus
Crocus flavus, known as yellow crocus or Dutch yellow crocus, is a species of flowering plant of the Crocus genus in the Iridaceae family. It grows wild on the slopes of Greece, former Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania and northwestern Turkey, with fragrant bright orange-yellow flowers which Tennyson likened to a fire. It is a small crocus (5–6 cm (2–2 in), despite the names of some cultivars, compared to the Giant Dutch crocuses (C. vernus). Its cultivars are used as ornamental plants.
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The Latin specific epithet flavus means "pure yellow".
C. flavus naturalises well in the garden, and its cultivars are used as ornamental plants. The subspecies C. flavus subsp. flavus has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
- Crocus flavus subsp. dissectus T.Baytop & B.Mathew - western Turkey
- Crocus flavus subsp. flavus - Greece, Turkey, Balkans; naturalized in Utah
- Crocus flavus subsp. sarichinarensis Rukšans - Turkey
Cultivars
Examples: 'Golden Yellow' (syn. 'Dutch Yellow', 'Yellow Mammoth')
