ete 
COLCHICUM AUTUMNALE. 49 
MELANTHACEA. 
R. BROWN. 
THE COLCHICUM TRIBE. 
& 
Essentiat Cxar.—Perianth inferior, petaloid, in six pieces, or in consequence of the cohesion of the claws tubu- 
lar; the pieces generally involute in estivation. Stamens six. Anthers mostly turned outwards. Ovary three-celled, 
many-seeded. Style trifid or three-parted. Stigma undivided. Capsule generally divisible into three pieces; some- 
times with a loculicidal dehiscence. Seeds with membranous testa. Albumen dense, fleshy. (R. Brown.) 
The plants belonging to this order are bulbous,—tuberous or fibrous rooted plants, extremely variable in appear- 
ance. They are not confined by geographical limits, but are most abundant in northern countries. 
The medical properties are violent, and are due to a principle which is alkaloid; viz., veratria, or a modification 
of it. 
COLCHICUM AUTUMNALE. 
LINNAUS. 
MEADOW SAFFRON. 
Sex. Syst.—Hexandria, Monogynia. 
Gen. Cuar.—Perianth coloused, funnel-shaped, with a very long subterranean slender tube, and a somewhat 
Campanulate, six-parted limb. Stamens six, inserted into the throat of the tube. Ovary three-celled. Ovu/es nume- 
rous, In two or four rows. Styles three, filiform, long. Stigmas somewhat clavate. Capsule three-celled, three-parti- 
ble, {Sig imwardly. Seeds numerous, roundish, with a shrivelled skin. (Lindley.) 
a dang Cuar.—Cormus large, ovate. Leaves dark green, very smooth, obtuse, above a foot long, one and a-half 
bright Pan, Somewhat keeled, produced in the spring along with the capsules. lowers several, radical, leafless, 
ie Rian (or pink), with a long white tube appearing in the autumn without the leaves. Capsules three, dis- 
ough forming together one oblong, elliptic fruit, with intermediate fissures. Seeds whitish, polished. The 
ers In one variety accompany the leaves in the spring, and have long, narrow, greenish-white segments, violet- 
coloured at base. (Smith and Lindley.) 
——~ qa is a native of England, in moist, rich pastures; it also grows in various places upon the continent of 
The t has been introduced into the United States, but not for medicinal purposes generally. 
brown m Rene and mode of growth and propagation in this plant are peculiar. The cormus is covered by a _— 
is oe re rane, which is in the form of a spathe, reflected first upon the flower tubes, and then upon the leaves _ 
comm capsule. ; The cormus, after it has leafed, throws off an offset laterally in the form of a new bulb, which . 
new €ncement is indicated by a projection or tubercle. This is slowly accomplished, and in the fall, when the 
rormus is capable of independent existence, it sends up two or three flowers upon long tubular i ing 
whi : | 
“yeaa pes with the subterraneous ovaria. The flowers fade in October, but the following spring "he 
the leaves. The cormus is then 
“oar into capsules which rise above ground, surrounded and supported by ‘it teateiiat 
saan 7s for a new production laterally. As it flowers in the autumn and produces its leaves in ta = = 
ae bons " mature capsules, it is not in a fit condition for gathering until all these acts have been en ey 
80 far adva ‘Oute by their functions to the development of its principles, when these have faded and before t - scion 
need as to have exhausted the bulb, should it be gathered. June and July are specified as being the proper 
me for collection. 
pon the attention paid to the stage of growth depends the value of the colchicum brought into the market ; the 
aed —— inert, or nearly so. Dr. Lindley says, that he had seen many cts. sent to London, of this description, 
a 13 
