SWISS FLOWERS. 109 



88. Colchicum. 



(PLATE XLIX.) 



If the Swiss Crocus has rather a mean look, not so with 

 the Colchicum, which sometimes fills the meadows with 

 its pretty light lilac-purple blossoms. Its appearance is 

 exactly that of a Crocus^ but it may be distinguished from 

 that by having six stamens instead of three, inserted in the 

 throat of the tube, and three very long styles, 



C. autumnale (Fig. 88). A great peculiarity of this plant 

 is that it blossoms in the autumn, entirely destitute of 

 leaves, the root sending up one or more flowers. The leaves 

 appear afterwards, and attain the length of eight or ten 

 inches in the spring, being an inch or two broad. Very 

 curiously, too, the seed appears with them in a capsule, 

 making one wonder what plant can have just gone out of 

 blossom. Our illustration shows both. Moist meadows of 

 the lower grounds. C. Alpinum is much smaller, and the 

 root bears only one flower. 



