282 MELANTHACEjE. [Colchicum. 



acute. Br. Fl. 1. p. 37. £. Fl. v. iv. p. 47. £. flo/. f. 729.— 

 Ophrys paludosa, Linn. 



Spongy bog's, in many places, but apt to be overlooker! on account 

 of its small size. In a marshy spot above Powerscourt Waterfall, and 

 at Tittour, County of Wicklow, as well as in the southern and northern 

 counties, but never in areat quantity. Fl. Aug - . Sept. %. — Stem two 

 to four inches high. Flowers erect, minute, in a small greenish spike. 

 Calyx of three ovate, horizontal spreading leaves, two of them erect, 

 their bases embracing the base of the superior Up, which is thus also 

 erect. Two lateral petals recurved. 



Ord. 82. MELANTHACEiE. Batsch. Colchicum Family. 



Perianth free, petaloid, G-partite, tubular by the union of the 

 claws, with the segments in aestivation often involute. Stamens 

 six : anthers often turned outwards. Ovary 3-celled, many- 

 seeded; style trifid or tripartite ; stigmas undivided. Capsule 

 often separable into three, sometimes with the valves bearing 

 the dissepiment in the middle. Seeds with a membranaceous 

 testa, (neither black nor crustaceous.) Albumen dense, fleshy. 

 — Herbaceous plants, with fibrous, sometimes fascicled, rarely 

 bulbous roots. Flowers either arising immediately from the root, 

 or in panicles on tall leafy stems, or in spihes or racemes vpon 

 naked scapes. 



An acrid and highly dangerous Family, powerfully narcotic, 

 diuretic and cathartic. 



1. Colchicum. Linn. Meadow-saffron. 



Perianth single, tubular, very long, rising from a spatha ; limb 

 campanulate, G- parted, petaloid. Capsules 3-celled; cells 

 united at the base. — Named from Colchis, where it was said 

 to grow abundantly. Hexandria. Trigynia. 



1. C. cmtumnale, Linn. Common Meadow-saffron. Leaves 

 plane, broadlv lanceolate, erect. Br. Fl. 1. p. 172. E. Fl. 

 v. Up. 202. E. Bot. t. 133. 



Meadows and pastures. Banks of the Shannon below Limerick. 

 Meadows by the river-side, between Kilkenny and Innistiogue ; Mr. 

 Robertson. Near Carlow ; Mr. S. C. Hope Cooper. Fl. Sept. 

 Oct. %. — Bulb solid. 'We flowers appear in succession, rising from 

 the bulb, with a very Ions:, narrow tube, surrounded at the base with a 

 membranous sheath. The stamens are inserted on the oblong-ovate 

 segments of the pale purple perianth. Germen at the base of the 

 bulb, its long thread-like styles running up the whole length of the 

 tube. The leaves and fruit appear in spring, and are withered before 

 summer. Its properties are said to be similar to those of the officinal 



