THE PRINCIPLES OF BOTANY. 
785 
chid ), when gathered at the proper season, is about the size 
of a chestnut, and somewhat resembles, in external appear- 
ance, the bulb of the common tulip ( Tulipa Gesneriana), 
which, as well as other liliaceous bulbs, are distinguished 
from the cormus of Colchicum by being composed of laminae 
or scales, whereas the cormus of Colchicum is solid. # It is 
rounded on one side, flattened on the other, where is perceived 
the fibrous germ of a new cormus, which, if allowed to grow, 
shoots up and bears the flower, while the old cormus wastes. 
It is covered by two coats — an inner reddish-yellow one, and 
an external brown one. Internally the cormus is white, 
fleshy, solid, contains a milky juice, is very feculent, and has 
an acrid bitter taste. Before drying the cormus it should be 
cut transversely in thin slices, the dry coats being previously 
removed (Ph. Lond. 1836). The slices are to be quickly 
dried in a dark airy place, with a heat not exceeding 170° F. 
(Battley, Lond. Med. Reports, xiv, 4£9). The late Dr. 
A. T. Thomson recommended the slices to be dried on clean 
white paper, without artificial heat, but tbe time required for 
this is an objection to its practice. The dried slices ( radix 
siccata') should be about the eighth or tenth of an inch thick, 
rounded, oval, with one notch only on one part of their cir- 
cumference (not fiddle-shaped), inodorous, of a grayish-white 
colour, and an amylaceous appearance. 
“ The seeds ( semina ) are about the size of those of black 
mustard, odourless, and have a bitter acrid taste. Their 
colour is brown, varying from pale to dark or blackish. They 
somewhat resemble several of the cruciferous seeds (black 
mustard, turnip, and rape), but are larger than these ; more- 
over, the latter, being more oily, are more readily crushed. 
I have known Colchicum seeds mistaken for grains of 
paradise.” 
As the corm is the part more generally used, much dis- 
cussion has arisen as to the time at which it should be 
gathered. The cormi are generally taken out of the earth 
when they have arrived at their highest development, which is 
throughout the month of July. We have gathered large 
quantities at that time in the Cotteswold Hill district, where 
it abounds, and cannot help thinking that it is then at its 
bitterest ; and as the contained bitter extractive is a test 
of potency, we have no doubt that the month of July is 
preferable to any other period for the collection of Colchicum 
# Some years ago a load of tulip bulbs was delivered at Apothecaries’ 
Hall, London, for colchicum cormi. The late Mr. Anderson, gandener to 
the Apothecaries’ Botanic Gardens, for many years cultivated some of these 
tulips, in commemoration of the attempted fraud. 
