Flowering Time	Winter and Early Spring
Distribution	W Italy (South from Naples); Capri
Native Climate	Mediterranean
Wild Habitat	Short turf and thin woodland
Distinctive Features	Lilac flowers with outside of outer petals buff, marked with dark purple. Corm tunic parallel fibres
Closest Relatives	Crocus versicolor
Cultivation Requirements	Well drained soil in sun. (Grown without protection in UK gardens given these conditions)
Availability	Some specialist bulb and seed suppliers

Differentiated from subspecies suaveolens by having a bract and bracteole. (Subspecies suaveolens lacks a bracteole.) In the pictures below bract and bracteole are clearly visible in some of the flowers while the ssp suaveolens flower has just the bract and no sign of bracteole. Link here to a larger image showing some more of the variation in Crocus imperati imperati

Four forms of crocus imperati imperati. The central flower clearly displays both bract and bracteole either side of the flower tube at bottom of picture. Far right flower is from subspecies suaveolens

Four forms of crocus imperati imperati. Far left flower is from subspecies suaveolens

Crocus imperati White form

Parallel fibrous corm tunics with fine netting near the top.