SEPTEMBER. 361 
called saffron; this beg so small a portion of the plant, 
it may easily be imagined how manyit must require to produce 
even an ounce weight of saffron. It is used as a medicine, 
and also in dyeing. The flower is purple, the stigma pro- 
truded, drooping, and divided into three narrow pieces. 
HEXANDRIA. TRIGYNIA. 
PETALOIDE®. MELANTHACE. 
COLCHICUM. (Meapow Sarrron.) 
Generic Character. Flower witha very long tube arising from 
a sheath, bell-shaped, divided into six parts at the top. 
CoLcHICUM AUTUMNALE. Common Meadow Saffron. If 
a flower be found greatly resembling a crocus, but having 
six stamens, it 1s this plant. It is chiefly found in meadows 
and pastures in the north-west of England. The pale purple 
flowers arise from the bulb with a long narrow’ tube, sur- 
rounded with a sheath; but they do not perfect their seeds 
at this time of the year; for the flower withers and the seeds 
remain in the bulb till the next spring, when they rise up 
with the new leaves, and ripen during the summer. This plan 
is contrary to other plants, and is very singular. The leaves 
