NAT. ORDER. 



SpathacecB. 



COLCHICUM AUTUMNALE MEADOW SAFFRON 



Class VI. Hexandria. Order III. Trigygnu. 



Gen. Char. Corolla six-parted, with a rooted bulb. Capsules three, 

 connected, inflated. 



Spe. Char. Leaves flat, lanceolate, erect. 



The root is perennial, consisting of a solid double succulent bulb, 

 covered with a brown membranous coat; the leaves appear in the 

 spring, and are numerous, radical, spear-shaped, one or two of which 

 are much narrower than the others ; the Jlowcrs are large, of a pur- 

 plish color, and rise immediately from the root upon a long naked 

 tube ; calyx none ; the corolla is monopetalous, and divided into six 

 lance-shaped, large, erect segments, of a pale purple color ; the fila- 

 nicnis are six, tapering, white, much shorter than the corolla, and fur- 

 nished with erect, pointed yellow anthers ; the germen is lodged at 

 the root, from which issue three slender styles, reflexed at the top, and 

 terminated by simple pointed stigmas ; the capsule is three-lobed, 

 divided into three cells, containing numerous small globular seeds, 

 which do not ripen until the succeeding spring, when the capsule rises 

 above the ground upon a strong peduncle. 



Colchicum Autumnale is a native of the temperate parts of Eu- 

 rope, where it grows wild in moist meadows. Various attempts have 

 been made to introduce its culture into this country, but with no very 

 encouraging success. The oflicinal portions are the bulb or cormus, 

 and the seeds. The root, botanically speaking, consists of the fibres 



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