The Parent Plant 7 



tlicn two \er\ similar thugs Avould have appeared. These arc C.olclii- 

 ( uiii hiteuin and Merendera persica, which were described in the last 

 section. AVhile the alkaloid contents of these two plants differ con- 

 siderably, it is jMobable that then as now they were sold under the 

 name surinjau. A carclul worker like Diostorides would not have 

 been misled by these substitutions, but not all Cireek physicians were 

 skilled in distinguishing botanical specnnens. and they undoubtedly 

 appreciated the excellent services rendered by Dioscorides through 

 his botanical investigations. 



In the tollowing fiiteen centuries, down through the period ol the 

 Herbalists, nothing dillerent was added to the description of Colchi- 

 coii. In fact, the Herbalists merely copied and repeated what Dios- 

 corides and several other botanists of his period had written.*" The 

 great contributions matle during the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries, 

 of coinse, were the translation, copying, and j^rinting which made 

 book production easier than at any previous period in history. 



The Herbalists-- collected interesting names that became associ- 

 ated \vith dolclnc <))iJ' These ustially refer to the poisonous features 

 or to some unusual habit such as fall flowering and spring fruiting. 

 The plants were called "mort an chien," or "death to dogs.^' The 

 name "hit I bus arrest is." or "wild bidb," was commonlv used.^' Since 

 the flowers appeared in clusters out of the ground without leaves 

 associated, a descriptive name "naked ladies" was given. Probably 

 the most involved name was the Latin "Filiiis ante patre/n," trans- 

 lated "son before the father," meaning a deviation from established 

 biological laws.^' Ihis is imderstandable, for ^vhen they associated the 

 spring seeds and fruiting with the Hoovers that came up the same 

 year in autumn, several months later, it was an instance of the off- 

 spring preceding the parents. However, Dioscorides had made the 

 correct interpretation because his diagrams (Fig. 1.2) clearly associ- 

 ated buds, flowers, leaves, and fruits at the correct season and he 

 realized that the flowering plants of autumn put forth fruits the 

 next spring. Some Herbalists devoted much chscussion to the growth 

 habits involving flowering and fruiting. Finally, the common name 

 Hermodactyl caused confusion for a long time initil it was clearly 

 shown that the CoJchicoJi and Hcrtnoddciyl were the same plant. •^•* 



Linnaeus kept the original name given by Dioscorides, changing 

 it from the Greek ColcJiicoji to Latin Colchiciim . when he devised his 

 extensive system of nomenclature. .\ binomial ailixed to the autunni 

 crocus was published in Species Pltintaruin. 1753: Colchicum aiiiimi- 

 nale L. The species describes the fall-flowering character, and the 

 genus retains the original reference to the land of Colchis. Very few 

 changes were made in descrijjtions as originally given by the Greek 

 botanist. Linnaeus m;ule an important contiibution in showing re- 



