COLCHICUM. 189 



enchantress Medea, who was not unfreqiiently called Colchis, 

 from the place of her birth. On account of the great length of 

 the flower-tube, the plant goes by the name of tube-root, in 

 some parts of England. It is generally believed that the Col- 

 chicum Autnmnale is the Hermodactylon of the ancients ; this 

 bulb was described as about the size of a small chestnut, flat- 

 tened on one side, yellowish externally, white within, of a sub- 

 viscid, farinaceous taste, and without odour. It was brought 

 from Natolia and Egj'pt through Turkey. Linnaeus*, on the 

 authority of Bauhin, mentions it as the root of the Iris tuberosa, 

 adding " the plant from which it is obtained is unknown — 

 Tournefort and many others consider it a species of Iris, while 

 some take it for the Colchicum variegatum ! " The description 

 given by Alexander of Tralles ■\, as to its medicinal effects cor- 

 responds very nearly with the character of the Colchicum. He 

 recommended it with other purgatives in gout, vmited with aro- 

 matics. Paulus ^Egineta J extols it as a specific in the same dis- 

 ease, as does Avicenna §, who also recommends it to be applied 

 to the part affected in the form of a cataplasm. 



The economy of this plant is so interesting as to deserve 

 especial notice. In the Coltsfoot the flowers are produced 

 early in spring, and the leaves in the following summer ; but in 

 the Meadow-Saffron the flowers appear about the latter end of 

 September, and in a short time perish, without leaving any 

 appearance of leaves or fruit. The germen or ovary which was 

 impregnated in autumn gradually developes underground, and 

 finds a safe hybernaculum in the bulb. In spring the fruit rises 

 on a short peduncle, together with the leaves, which perish 

 before the end of June, when the seeds are ripe. In the mean 

 time a new bulb has sprung from the side of the old one, and 

 when this has perished, is ready to fulfil its destined office, by 

 providing for the fecundation of the flower and the nourishment 

 of the germ of a succeeding plant. There are, in fact, two 



* Mat. Med. ed. Schreber, p. 44. 



•|- Libr. Med. xi. ed. Andernaci, p. 643, sqq. 



+ Ed, Torin. lib. iii. p. 237. 



§ Canon. Med. ed. F. P. Utinensem, vol. i. p. 333, (de hennodactylo,) 

 Venetiis, 1608. — But his description will not apply to our plant. — "Hermo- 

 dactylus est radix plantse habentis rosas albas, et citrinas. Et aperitur in 

 primis, quum aperiuntur flores ; et existit in planitiebus montiura et in 

 angulis eorum et folia ejus expansa sunt super terram." 



