MEADOW-SAFFRON. 
163 
MEADOW-SAFFRON. 
COLCHICUM AUTUMNALE. 
“ Say what impels, amid surrounding snow 
Congeal’d, the crocus’ flamy buds to glow ? 
Say what retards, amidst the summer blaze, 
The autumnal bulb till pale declining days ? 
The God of seasons, whose pervading power 
Controls the sun, or sheds the fleecy shower : 
He bids each flower the quickening word obey, 
Or to each lingering bloom enjoins delay.” 
Meadow-Saffron is an indigenous perennial plant, 
but not common. It grows chiefly in the northern and 
western counties, though it has been found in Suffolk, 
Oxfordshire, and Staffordshire. It is very rare in 
Scotland, but Lightfoot mentions it as growing at 
Alloa, the seat of Mr. Erskine. It was not unknown to 
the ancients, who averred that it sprang from some 
drops of the magic liquor prepared by Medea for the 
restoration of ^Eson’s youth, whence it became a spe¬ 
cific for all sorts of diseases. Though this fable might 
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