S02 HEXANDRIA— TRIGYNIA. Colchicum. 



tubes and germens enveloped in one common sheath, and 

 accompanied by many interior more membranous ones. 

 The^oiuers are autumnal ; leaves andjiuii vernal. 



1. C. autumnale. Common Meadow-saffron. 



Leaves flat, lanceolate, erect. Segments of the corolla ob- 

 long. 



C, autumnale. Linn. Sp. PL 485. mild. v. 2. 273. Fl. Br. 399. 



Engl. Bot. V. 2. t. 133. Hook. Scot. 1 14. Mart. Rust. t. 60. 



TVoodv. Med. Bot. t.l77. Btdl. Fr. t. 18. 

 C. n. 1255. Hall. Hist. v. 2. 124. 

 C. commune. Bauh.Pin.67. RaiiSyn.373. Rudb. Elys. v. 2. 123. 



/. 1,2. 

 C. anglicum purpureum et album. Ger. Em. 157./. 

 Colchicum. Trag.Hist.759.f. Fuchs. Hist. 356, 357. f,f. Matth. 



Valgr. V. 2, 450, 45 1 ./,/. Camer. Epit. 845./. 

 /3. floribus serotinis. Engl. Bot. v. 20. t. 1432. 

 C. vernum helveticum. Bauh. Pin. 69. 

 C. vera prodiens. Camer. Epit. 846./, 



In moist rich meadows, but not common. 



Chiefly in the north and west of England, Ray. At Little Ston- 

 ham, Suffolk. Mrs. Cobbold. Near Bury. Mr. Mathew. At 

 Filkins and Bradwell, Oxfordshire. Bishop of Carlisle. In Weston 

 park, Staffordshire. 



/3. Near Devizes, Wilts. Mr. Salmon. 



Perennial. September. /3 April, May. 



Bulb ovate, large. Leaves dark green, very smooth, obtuse, above 

 a foot long, 1 1 inch broad, somewhat keeled, produced in spring, 

 along with the capsules. Fl. several, radical, leafless, bright 

 purple, with a long white tube. Capsules distinct, though 

 forming together one oblong, elliptical fruit, with intermediate 

 fissures. Seeds whitish, polished. The Jiowers in the variety /3 

 accompany the leaves in spring, and have long, narrow, greenish- 

 white segments, violet-coloured at the base. 



A spiritous tincture of the root or seeds of Colchicum is thought 

 to be a famous quack medicine for the gout, called eau medici- 

 nale. At least such a tincture, in the dose of 40 or 50 drops, 

 twice a day, has been found very usefiil in gout and rheuma- 

 tism. 



