Tas. 8025. 
COLCHICUM STEVEN. 
Syria and Arabia. 
Liniacrkz. Tribe CoLcHIcEs. 
Cotcuicum, Linn.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. iii, p. 821; Engl. & 
Prantl, Pflanzenf. vol. ii. 5, p. 29. 
Colchicum Steveni, Kunth, Hnum. Pl. vol. iv. p. 144, eael. syn.; Baker in 
Journ. Linn. Soc, vol. xvii. p. 483; Boiss. Fl. Orient. vol. v. p. 165; 
—— OC. montano, Linn., affinis, antheris Inteis oblongo-linearibus 
iffert. 
Cormus ovoideus, 1 poll. longus, tunicis brunneis, levis, collo brevi. Folia 
synanthia, anguste linearia, 3 lin. lata, floribus wzquilonga. Flores 3-10 
fasciculati. Perianthit tubus cylindricus, 24 poll. longus, albus; seg- 
menta anguste elliptica, obtusa, 9 lin. longa, 4 lin. lata, 7-10-nervia, 
dilute roseo-lilacina demum fere alba, Stamina perianthii segmentis 
multo breviora; filamenta 6 lin. longa, basi incrassata lutea, supra 
- subulata, alba ; antherz lineari-elliptice, Intese. Styli rami lineares, albi, 
staminibus zequilongi.—C. polyphyllum, Boiss. et Heldr. Diagn. Pl. Nov. 
series 2, n. iv. p. 121. 
Although this charming species was described as long 
ago as 1843, it appears not to have been brought into 
cultivation until quite recently. The plants figured were 
raised from corms purchased from Mr. G. Egger, of Jaffa, 
in 1904, and flowered in an unheated greenhouse at Kew 
in January of the present year. C. Steveni belongs to 
that comparatively small section of the genus characterized 
by the leaves and flowers being produced at the same 
time, and the perianth not being tessellated. It is very 
closely allied to C. montanuim, Linn. (B. M. t. 6443), with 
which it has sometimes been confused, but from which it is 
chiefly distinguished by having yellow, not brownish-purple 
anthers. By a similar character it differs from C. Ber- 
tolonti, Stev. (Reichb. Ic. Fl. Germ. vol. x. t. 424), as well 
as by the apical sheath of the corm being usually less 
produced. C. Stevent grows along the coast region of 
Syria and extends into Arabia, while specimens doubtfully 
referred to it have been collected in Persia. 
Descr.—Corm ovoid, one inch long; tunics brown, 
smooth, produced into a short neck. Leaves appearing 
with, and about as long as, the flowers, narrowly linear, 
three lines wide. Flowers three to ten in a fascicle. 
Pevrianth-tube cylindrical, two and a half inches long, 
JuLy lst, 1905. 
