COLCHICUM AUTUMNALE, 
nevertheless preceded by the flower, which appears in autumn 
without any leaves; and from this circumstance the plant is 
sometimes called ‘* Naked Lady.” It is, however, proper to 
state, that the bulb from which the flowers spring, is the offset 
of that from which the leaves have decayed. ‘There ts no calyx. 
The corolla, which js of a pale, pinkish lilac color, springs 
directly from the bulb, and consists of a tube about five inches 
long, two thirds of which are sunk in the ground, and a limb 
divided into six lanceolate keeled segments, The filaments are 
half the length of the segments of the corolla, subulate, united 
to the upper part of the tube, and supporting yellow erect 
anthers. ‘The stigmas are revolute. The fruit is a three-lobed, 
three-celled capsule, on a thick short peduncle, The impreg- 
nated germen remains under ground, close to the bulb, till the 
following spring, when it rises in its capsular form above the 
surface, -ucictn anil by the leaves. The seeds are ripe about 
the end of June. 
The thick old bulb begins to decay after the flower is per- 
fectly expanded ; and the new bulbs, of which there are always 
two formed on each old bulb, are perfected in the following 
June, from which time until the middle of August they may be 
taken up for medicinal use. The bulbs, when mature, on being 
cut transversely, yield a milky-looking acrid juice, which pro- 
duces a beautiful cerulean blue color, if rubbed with the alco- 
‘holie solution of guaiacum. 
CHEMICAL AND MEDICAL PROPERTIES AND USES. 
The recent bulb of this plant has scarcely any cdor. When 
it is dug up at a proper season of the year, the taste is bitter, 
hot, and acrid, occasioning a warm sensation in the stomach, 
even when taken in a peal quantity. At other seasons, how- 
ever, and in some soils and situations, it possesses very little 
acrimony, and thence the contradictory opinions which authors 
have given of it. Its acrimony resides in a peculiar alkali, 
which can be separated from the other principles, and has been 
named veratrine (veratria) by M. M. Pelletier and Caventou, 
who discovered it. ‘The veratrine is obtained in form of a 
white powder ; little soluble in water, but very soluble in 2g 
alcohol ; it combines with acids, but the neutral salts are not 
: -_-erystallizable. The other component parts of the bulb 
— — — matter, malic acid, Ae colorin 
