COLCHICUM 



THE BULB BOOK 



COLCHICUM 



C. Tangshen. — A native of Central 

 China, having long thickened roots 

 much used by the natives as a tonic 

 medicine. The slender stems are 

 2 ft. or more long, with ovate or 

 ovate lance-shaped leaves 1 j to 2J ins. 

 long, slightly toothed on the margins. 

 The greenish bell-shaped flowers are 

 spotted with purple, and striped 

 inside. {Bot. Mag. t. 8090.) 



Fio. 96.— Codo7ioj)sisoDo!a. (J.) 



COLCHICUM (after Colchis, one 

 native habitat in Asia Minor), 

 Meadow. Saffeon. Nat. Ord. Lilia- 

 cese. — A genus containing about thirty 

 species of beautiful herbs, closely 

 related to the Bulbocodiums and 

 Merenderas, and recognised by having 

 tunicated corms, oblong strap-shaped 

 or linear leaves, and short scapes 

 bearing from one to three or more 

 showy flowers, usually lilac in colour, 

 but sometimes yellow. The blossoms 

 are funnel-shaped, with a long slender 

 tube, and six oblong segments, erect 



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or somewhat spreading, and with six 

 stamens attached at the base. The 

 ovary or seed-pod is unstalked, and 

 three-celled, three-ribbed, and many 

 seeded, and although at first under- 

 ground is eventually pushed above 

 the surface. 



The Colchicums are often popularly 

 described as Autumn Crocuses, owing 

 to the fact that they bloom in autumn. 

 They have nothing, however, to do 

 with the Crocuses proper — either 

 spring- or autumn-flowering varieties 

 — as it will be seen that the true 

 Crocuses belong to the same natural 

 family as the Iris and Gladiolus, to the 

 Iridese and not to the Liliaceae. It 

 is therefore better when using popular 

 names to apply the accepted term 

 " Meadow Saffron " to the Colchicums, 

 to avoid confusion with the Autumn 

 Crocuses proper. 



Colchicums flourish in any rich 

 and well-drained garden soil, contain- 

 ing, however, a certain amount of 

 natural moisture. The corms should 

 be planted not later than August, if an 

 effect is desired the following autumn, 

 and also to avoid loss of vitality by 

 being kept out of ground. When 

 planted in bold masses in the flower- 

 border, the margins of shrubberies 

 in the rock-garden, or in grassland, 

 lawns, banks, etc. Colchicums are 

 wonderfully effective in the autumn, 

 when they carpet the ground devoid 

 of any foliage. The leaves appear 

 after the flowers have died away, and 

 during the spring and summer months 

 are elaborating food from the air for 

 the benefit of the corms in the soil. 

 Once planted, Colchicums may be 

 left to themselves to increase and 

 multiply, and to encourage this a 

 top-dressing of short, well-rotted 

 manure should be given after the 

 flowers have vanished. When the 

 plants have become overcrowded at 

 the end of a few years, they should 



