Crocus
2 Crŏcus, ī, m. , nom dʼhomme : Sid. Ep. 7 || montagne de Crète : Plin. 4, 59.
Crocus
the beloved friend of Smilax, was changed by the gods into a saffron plant, because he loved without being loved again. According to another tradition, he was metamorphosed by his friend Hermes, who had killed him in a game of discus. (Ov. Met. 4.283; Serv. ad Virg. Georg. 4.182.) [L.S]
Crocus
(Κρόκος). A youth who, being unable to obtain the object of his affections, the nymph Smilax, pined away, and was changed into the crocus, or saffron. Smilax herself was metamorphosed into the smilax, or bindweed (Ovid, Met. iv. 283).