COLCHICUM TRIBE. ORDER JUNCACEJE, OR RUSH TRIBE. 541 



from which the flowers of the next season are developed. These 

 bulbs contain (as in other instances) a large quantity of starch ; 

 and this, if freed from their peculiar secretions, is highly nutri- 

 tious. But the juices are very acrid and powerfully irritating ; 

 so that the bulbs of most of the species, especially the Colchicum 

 and Veratrum (commonly called White Hellebore), are of a very 

 poisonous character. Their properties are such, however, as to 

 render them very useful when properly administered as medi- 

 cines ; and these they possess in the greatest intensity about 

 June or July ; at which time, therefore, the bulbs should be 

 gathered. The active principle exists also in the seed-coats, from 

 which it may be extracted by spirit of wine. It is said that the 

 bulbs of some species of Colchicacese are eaten, without injurious 

 effects, in the South of Europe. The order is pretty widely dis- 

 tributed over the globe, but especially abounds in the northern 

 hemisphere. 



719. The order JUNCACE^E, or Rush tribe, has apparently but 

 little relation with the tribes last described ; yet if its structure 

 be closely examined, it will be found to be similar in all essential 

 particulars to that of the Lilies, Asphodels, and Meadow Saffron. 

 Many of the commonest Rushes are humble leafless plants, with 

 stiff slender wiry stems, and little clusters of dingy flowers; 

 others are still smaller in stature, but possess distinct leaves. 

 These are usually long and narrow, resembling those of the 

 Grasses. The structure of the flowers can scarcely be made out, 

 except by the aid of a magnifying-glass and a strong light, on 

 account of their minuteness and dull colour, and also through 

 their being closely packed in clusters. When carefully examined, 

 however, each flower will be found to possess a spreading perianth 

 of six pieces, of which three external form the calyx, and three 

 internal the corolla; on the outside of these are two or three 

 bracts, so like them as scarcely to be distinguished from them, 

 except by their position. From within the flower arise six 

 (sometimes only three) stamens ; and in the centre of the latter 

 is the superior ovarium, which has three angles, indicating its 

 formation from three carpels, and also three stigmas j but the 

 style is single. In the true Rushes, the ovarium has three cells; 



