278 AUTUMN AND AUTUMNAI, FLOWERS. 



sliould inadvertently swallow it. It is no uncommon thing to see these 

 plants standing alone in pastures where every otlier kind of herbage 

 has been eaten down, without a leaf of this plant being touched. Tiie 

 French give this plant the appalling name of 2«e Chicii, Kill Dog, 

 and Mort au Chien, which also signifies Dog's Death. 



In floral language, this flower expresses " My best days are past ; " 

 for, far from inspiring us, like the Spring Crocus, with joy and hope, 

 it appears to announce to all nature the loss of the fine days, and the 

 approach of a cheerless atmosphere. It appears naked, like a sprite 

 amongst flowers, to warn them of tlieir destiny ; and nature seems to 

 have reversed its order in some of the characters of this curious plant, 

 which cannot fail to interest the students of natural iiistory and botany; 

 and the closer they investigate the apparent phenomena of the Colchi- 

 cum, the more will they be struck with the wonderful arrangements 

 that tiie all-wise Creator lias adapted in the formation of vegetables, 

 which appear, on a superficial inspection, to act by contrarieties, whilst 

 their actions are governed by tlie most consummate wisdom. Let us 

 regard the Colcliicum as a native of our moist pastures, and we shall 

 find that its coi'olla is sent out of tiie earth with its parts of fructifica- 

 tion at a season when they have only time to mature the anthers, that 

 the stigmas may receive and convey the fecundating particles of vege- 

 table nature to the numerous empty seed-shells that are prepared to 

 receive it in the three-lobed capsule ; and as the season of the year 

 would not allow the fruit of this late-flowei"ing plant to ripen so as to 

 multiply its kind, Providence has so contrived its structure that it may 

 be performed at a depth within the earth, out of the reach of the usual 

 effects of the frost ; and as seeds buried at such a depth are known not 

 to vegetate, a no less admirable provision is made to raise them above 

 the surface when they are perfect, and to sow them at a proper season. 

 For this purpose the seed-vessels are lodged in the bosom of the embryo 

 leaves, and are consequently thrust forth with the foliage about the 

 month of April. By the end of May they are generally ripe, and the 

 leaves then witlier and the root decays, having finished its duties, not 

 only by its oviparous nature, but by having at the same time given 

 birth and nourishment to a new bulb in the earth by its viviparous 

 powers. The new bulbs take their rise from the caudex, at the base 

 of the flower-tul)e, and are united by communicating vessels to the old 

 bulb, from the juices of which the new bulbs extract their nutriment, 

 until the parent bulb decays, as is the case in the Tulip. The Col- 

 cliicum has generally perfected its new bulb by the middle of May, and 

 as no exhaustion has then taken place in forming either flowers or 

 foliage, it is natural to suppose that the bulb must be then possessed of 

 the most powerful medicinal properties. 



It was formerly supposed that this plant produced its seed before its 

 flowers, and for want of investigation this error gained general belief; 

 but as a knowledge of botany became more generally known, the im- 

 possibility of sucTi a circumstance was seen, and the natural history of 

 the Colchicum was then developed. 



The bulb sends up a flower in September similar in appearance to 

 the Purple Crocus, excepting that it is quite destitute of foliage, and 

 hence our peasantry name it the Naked Lady. The flower is mono- 



