N. 0. liliace^:. 1301 



yellow anthers. Style filiform, much longer than the perianth. 

 Capsule l-ljin. ; valves with long, recurved beaks. 



Uses: — C. Masson, in his narrative of an excursion into 

 the Hazarah country in 1832 (Trans.-Bombay Geograph. Soc. 

 ii., p. 60), notices a small bulbous root, which the Afghans dug 

 up at Bad Assiar on the banks of the Helmund, and which 

 appeared to be a kind of Colchicum, for the purpose of pre- 

 paring Haran-tutiha, a medicine of great repute among the 

 Afghans. He also remarks : — "It is sold in small pieces of 

 a dark-brown colour, and resembles a dry extract." Masson 

 travelled through a great part of Afghanistan on foot, mixing 

 with all classes of the people, and his experience of their 

 manners and customs is very interesting. (Pharmacogr. Indica 

 III, 499-500). 



The corms (or bulbous roots) constitute the bitter hermodactyl of the later 

 Greeks, and are the surinjan of the Indian bazars. The true Colchicum (C. 

 autumnale) does not occur in India, but in the bazars there are two forms sold, 

 the bitter and the sweet. The latter is imported from Persia. European phy- 

 sicians in India consider the sweet root as inert, but they would seem to hold 

 that the bitter one possesses similar properties to the true colchicum and may 

 be substituted for it. Recently a few children were reported to have been 

 poisoned at Kuldana in Rawalpindi through eating the seeds of this Indian 

 colchicum. The seeds were accordingly chemically analysed at Calcutta 

 (as also the roots), and tested physiologically. It was found that both possses- 

 sed colchicine, of which the hundredth part of a grain proved fatal to cats. 

 [Cf. Hooper, Rept. Labor. Ind. Mus. (Indust. Sec), 1902-3, 28.] Watt. Com. 

 Pro., p. 398. 



In the Ph. J. for April 1, 1871, pp. 784-785, Dr. M. C. Cooke gave drawings 

 of the starch granules of the tasteless and bitter hermodactyl, but he was 

 not acquainted with the source of the latter, since he concluded his paper by 

 saying " what is the source of bitter hermodactyls ? "— B. D. B. 



The seeds and roots contain colchicine. 



1288. Gloriosa superba, Linn., h.f.b.i., vi., 358. 



Sans.: — Langalika, agnisikha, kalikari. 



Vem. :— Nat-ka-bachhnag, karihari, languli (H.) ; Bishalan- 

 guli, ulatchandal, bisha (B.) ; Siric-samano (Santal); Mulim, 

 kariari (Pb.) ; Rajahrar (Ajmere) ; Nagkaria, indai (Mar.) ; Kalai- 

 paikishangu, kartikaikishangu (Tarn.) ; Agni-slrikha, kalappa- 

 gadda, adavi nabhi, potti dumpa iTel.) ; Ventoni mendoni, 

 (Malay) ; Sima-don, hsee-touk (Burm.) ; Neyangalla (Sing.). 



