202 HEXANDRIA— TRIGYNIA. Colchicum. 



tubes and germe?is enveloped in one common sheatli, and 

 accompanied by many interior more membranous ones. 

 lihe^oivefs are autumnal ; leaves and J}tcil vernal. 



1. C. autumnale. Common Meadow-saffron. 



Leaves flat, lanceolate, erect. Segments of the corolla ob- 

 long. 



C. autumnale, Linn. Sp. PI. iSo. Wilid. v.2.273. Fl. Br. 399. 



Engl. Bot. V.2. t. 133. Hook. Scot. 114. Mart. Rust. t. 60. 



Woodv. Med. Bot. t. 177. Bull. Fr. t. 18. 

 C. n. 1255. Hall. Hist. v. 2. 124. 

 C. commune. Bauh.Pm.67. RaiiSyn.373. Rudb. Elys. v. 2. 123. 



/. 1, 2. 

 C. anglicum purpureum et album. Ger. Em. 157./. 

 Colchicum. Trag.Hist.7^9.f. Fiichs. Hist.356,357.f,f. Matth. 



Valgr. V. 2. 450, 45 1 . /,/. Camer. Epit. 845. /. 

 /3. floribus serotinis. Engl. Bot. v. 20. 1. 1432. 

 C. vernura helveticum. Bauh. Pin. 69. 

 C. vere prodiens. Camer. Epit. 846./. 



In moist rich meadows, but not common. 



Chiefly in the north and west of England. Ray. At Little Ston- 

 ham, Suffolk. Mrs, Cobhold. Near Bury. Mr. Mathew. At 

 Filkins and Bradwell^ Oxfordshire. Bishop of Carlisle, In Weston 

 park, Staffordshire. 



/3. Near Devizes, Wilts. Mr. Salmon. 



Perennial. September. /3 April, May. 



Bulb ovate, large. Leaves dark green, very smooth, obtuse, above 

 afoot long, 1^ inch broad, somewhat keeled, produced in spring, 

 along with the capsules. Fl. several, radical, leafless, bright 

 purple, with a long white tube. Capsules distinct, though 

 forming together one oblong, elliptical fruit, with intermediate 

 fissures. Seeds whitish, polished. The flowers in the variety (3 

 accompany the leaves in spring, and have long, narrow, greenish- 

 white segments, violet-coloured at the base. 



A spiritous tincture of the root or seeds of Colchicum is thought 

 to be a famous quack medicine for the gout, called eau medici- 

 nale. At least such a tincture, in the dose of 40 or 50 drops, 

 twice a day, has been found very useful in gout and rheuma- 

 tism. 



