COLCHICUM Byzantinum. 

 Broad-leaved Meadow Saffron. 



Class and Order. — Hexandria Trigynia. 



Syn. Colchicum byzantinum. Bot. Mag. pi. \122. 

 — Colchicum byzantinum. Sweet's Hort. Brit. p. 539. 



Root bulbous, very large — scape radical, many flowered — corolla lilac pink — 

 tube long, petals six, ob-ovate, spreading, strongly nerved at the back of 

 each petal, tipped with a deeper color — stamens six, three longer than 

 the others — filaments inserted in the base of the petals — anthers bright 

 yellow — styles three, longer than the stamens — leaves radical, very 

 large, broadly lanceolate, plicate, smooth, appearing after the flowers 

 decay. 



There cannot be a greater ornament to the flower garden in 

 the antiimnal months than the C. byzantinum, which is the finest 

 species of the genus. We learn from the Bot. Mag. that, in 1598, 

 bulbs of this plant were received by Clusius, at Vienna, from Constan- 

 tinople, but it was not until 1629 that it was introduced into this 

 counti'y. It is a native of the Levant, and is perfectly hardy, not 

 requiring any particular mode of treatment, except being planted in 

 a light soil, mixed with bog. The flowers appear about September, 

 but the leaves, which are the largest of any of the species, do not 

 an-ive at maturity until the following spring. The C. autimmale is 

 famed for its medicinal properties. This is not a numerous genus; the 

 most desirable species are 



C. crociflomm. 



— autumnale. 



— var. white. 



— variegatum. 



PI. 42. 



