136 FAMILIAR WILD FLOWERS. 



The bulb of the meadow saffron has for ages had 

 medicinal repute, and on turning to the modern Phar- 

 macopoeia, we find various preparations of the plant duly 

 set forth. The bulb should be gathered during July and 

 August, its period of greatest activity; but Dr. Lindley 

 says that he has seen many hundredweights sent up to town 

 after the flowering-season, the flowers being broken off to 

 conceal the fraud. We see at once that while it would be 

 very difficult to find it in the interval between the dying 

 of the leaves and the springing of the flowers, any one 

 could collect the bulbs when they were guided to them by 

 the blossoms. Colchicum is irritant in its effects, and in 

 large doses is an acrid poison ; and while it has a distinct 

 value in allaying paroxysms of pain, the relief is perhaps 

 bought at too high a price, as its general effect on the system 

 is hurtful. Both the bulb and the seeds are used in medical 

 practice. In France it is called Mort au Chien. 



