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MELANTHACE^— MEADOW SAFFRON TRIBE 



1. Meadow Saffron {Cdkhicum). 



Common Meadow Saffron (C. autiuiindle). — Leaves flat, ei-ect, 

 broadly lanceolate ; corm large, solid. This is not a common flower, though 

 in some moist meadows, in various parts of England, its leafless large purple 

 blossoms are very conspicuous during August and Septeml)er. Blooming at 

 a late season, when rain and frost prevail rather than sunshine, the ripening 

 of its seeds is eff"ected by a remarkable process. The flowers, which arise 

 from the corm on long slender tubes, wither away, without leaving any indi- 

 cations of the seeds which are to reproduce them ; but the ovary lies con- 

 cealed within the buried base of the flower tul)e, and remaining there 

 through the winter, comes up on a fruit-stalk in the spring-time, to ripen 

 above the surface of the soil, while at the same period the green leaves of 

 the plant spring up around it. Bishop Mant thus refers to this wonderful 

 provision : — 



Or go to Monmouth's level meads, 

 Where Wye the gentle Monnow weds ; 

 Long brilliant tubes of purple hue 

 The ground in countless myriads strew. 

 Anon, but brief the space between, 

 No more these countless tubes are seen ; 

 The meads their verdant cloak resume, 

 And with that evanescent bloom, 

 You deem, perhaps, its spirit fled, 

 Abortive, virtueless, and dead. 

 You deem amiss. Within the breast 

 Secure of parent earth, the chest 



That holds the embryo fruit is laid ; 

 Thither by their long tulje convey 'd, 

 Safe from the force of winter skies, 

 Conceal'd the buried virtue lies, 

 Till spring-time from the fostering earth 

 Shall wake the meditated birth, 

 The germen on its stalk display'd. 

 And with emliracing leaves array'd, 

 And when the vernal grasses' bloom 

 Shall spread the hay-tield's rich perfume, 

 Bright June mature in timely hour 

 The seeds of August's early flower." 



The Meadow Saff"ron is believed to have taken its botanic name from 

 Colchis, a country on the eastern shore of the Euxine, or Black Sea, where it 

 is said to have grown in abundance among many plants of such powerful 

 properties as to have led to an allusion of Horace : — 



" Or tempered every baleful juice 

 Which poisonous Colchian glebes produce." 



A local name for the flowers, suggested by the aljsence of leaves, is Naked 

 Ladies. 



The French call the plant Mort an chien, and Tue chien, as well as ColrJiique 

 d'cmfomne. Although our domestic cattle will not eat it under ordinary 

 circumstances, and the tall flower often stands up late in the year among the 

 grass which has been cropped all around it, yet, when turned early into the 

 spring meadow, they sometimes crop it, when pain and often a great 

 mortality ensue. Mr. Purton remarks that farmers should be cautious of 

 turning hungry cattle into pastures where it abounds, as it proved fatal to a 

 number of calves which were at this season brought into lands where its 

 leaves formed a large part of the herbage. It is probable that Avhen dried it 

 loses its acrimony ; for the plant is abundant in the meadows of the Italian 

 Alps, where it must form a portion of the hay. 



The Colchicum was formerly regarded as a most effectual cure for various 

 complaints ; and an infusion of its bulbs in vinegar, and made, with the 

 addition of sugar, into a syrup, has been recommended in pulmonary 

 affections. A similar oxymel is still prepared, and is said to be a useful 



