342 
CHAPTER XX. 
Plate XXXVII. — the autumnal crocus. 
The colcliicum autumnale. This plant before us exhibits a mode 
of fructification scarcely paralleled among British vegetables. The 
flowers appearing very late in autumn, the impregnated gennen 
remains latent under ground close to the bulb till the following 
spring, when the capsule rises above the surface accompanied by 
several long upright leaves, and the seeds are ripened about June, 
alter which the leaves decay. See British Botany, vol. i. p. J33. 
The plant is represented as it appears in spring; the root is divided 
to show the seed vessel near the bulb. The flower is remarkable 
lor the length of its tube. 
