HEXANDRIA POLYGYNIA. Colchicum. 105 



366, H. L. 98. Gramen marinum spicatiim. G. 

 E. 20. 



Wet, hoggy meadows. 



Per. July. 



Stalk one f., simple, naked. Ls. rushy, semi-cylindric, with a mem- 

 branous, sheathing stip., within the Ls. Fl. spike, long, thick- 

 set, slender ; fl. small, greenish. 

 Eaten by cattle. Cows fond of it. 



CO'LCHICUM.' Meadow-saffron. 



C. autinnndle. Common M. S. Leaves flat, spear- 

 shaped, erect. Segments of the corolla oblong-. E. 

 B. 133. C. anglicum purpureum et album. G. E. 

 157. 



Bloist, rich meadoivs. * * Coombe. Heythorp. Stanton Harcourt. 



Ashford Mills. Sb. Barton. Church Handborough. Bx. 



(Cumnor. Y.) 

 Per. September. 

 Bulb large. FL pale-purple, immediately from the root, leafless. 



Styles reaching to the root. Caps, large, somewhat egg-shaped. 



Blossom-tube three-cornered. 



The_^. appear late in autumn, the germ, remains under ground 

 close to the bulb until the following spring, when the cups, with its 

 seeds, and the Is. rise above the gi'ound : the seeds are ripened 

 about June, and the i'*. decay. As the plant blossoms late in the 

 year, this is a providential contrivance to perfect, preserve, and at 

 length to sow the seeds, buried deep in the ground, out of the 

 reach of frost. See Paleys Nat. Tlieology. 



Plant poisonous. A tincture of the root and seeds used in gout, 

 and rheumatism : a dangerous remedy in the former : the supposed 

 basis of the eau-medicinale. It sometimes proves violently purga- 

 tive, and debilitating; hence its danger in gout. Gerarde makes 

 cow's milk an antidote to the deleterious powers of this plant. 

 Farmers should be cautious of turning cattle into fields where this 

 plant grows. 



HEXANDRIA POLYGYNIA. 



ALISMA. Water-plantain. 



A. Plantdgo. Great W.-p. Leaves egg-shaped, acute. 

 Capsules bluntly triangular. E. B. 837. C. 5. 27. 

 Plantago aquatica major, G. E. 417. 



Pools, ditches, margins of rivers. 



' From Colchis, 



