SEPTEMBER. 177 



safran. Saffron was formerly mncli employed 

 as a medicine and condiment, and is still so 

 used in the east. The ancients esteemed it as 

 a perfume ; and so high an opinion of its cheer- 

 ing and stimulating powers was once prevalent, 

 that when a man was merry, he was said to 

 have slept on a bag of saffron. 



And now when the meadow saffron is, by its 

 purple crocus-like flowers, turning our wild 

 pasture lands into a gay carpet, we find too in 

 the garden several cultivated species of this 

 plant. Like the wild colchicum, the leaves of 

 all wait for the following spring to. make their 

 appearance. Our garden colchicums are of 

 many colours, and several varieties have double 

 blossoms. None, except the wild colchicum, is 

 of much value to the druggist, but great quan- 

 tities of the roots, seeds, and blossoms of this 

 are annually collected for medicinal purposes. 

 Though very similar to the saffron crocus, so 

 much so, that an inexperienced observer would 

 mistake the one for the other, yet one simple 

 and obvious distinction exists, in the fact, that 

 the crocus has only three stamens and one 

 central column or pistil, whei'eas the colchicum 

 has six stamens and three pistils. This distinc- 

 tion might seem of little worth, yet it is truly 

 valuable; since though the crocus is a plant 

 which is perfectly innoxious, yet all the species 

 of the colchicum possess an acrimonious quaUty, 

 which in the meadow saffron of our fields is 

 highly poisonous. Our garden species are 

 some of them from the isles of Greece, and some 



