206 THE STORY OF PLANT LIFE 
The Yellow Flag is known also by the names 
Butter and Eggs, Cucumbers, Daggers, Dragon 
Flower, Flags, Jacob’s Sword, Yellow Sedge. 
THE MEADOW SAFFRON GROUP. 
The Order Melanthaceze is included by some in 
Liliaceze, and has relationship both with them and 
the Iris Group. It includes amongst British plants 
Meadow Saffron, Bog Asphodel and Tofeildia. The 
former grows in low-lying meadows, the latter in bogs 
and mountain rills. 
These plants are found mainly in the temperate 
regions, and have the lily habit. They are acrid plants. 
Colchicum is poisonous to cattle and has been used 
as a cure for gout. 
In Colchicum the perianth is funnel-shaped witha 
long tube; in the two other genera it is six-partite. 
The style is long in Colchicum, short in Tofeildia, and 
undivided in Bog Asphodel. Inthe Meadow Saffron 
the capsules are connected throughout; opening 
introrsely in Tofeildia it is connected to above the 
middle and is one-celled, whereas in Bog Asphodel 
it is three-celled and dehiscence is loculicidal. 
The stem, a scape, is erect, the leaves linear, lanceo- 
late erect, and vernal in Meadow Saffron, and in the 
others ensiform. There is a rhizome in Meadow 
Saffron and Bog Asphodel, or a corm in the first. 
The flowers of Meadow Saffron are autumnal. 
The calyx and corolla are similar, the perianth 
