The autumn crocus isn't a crocus, and every species is poisonous
Autumn crocus, meadow saffron and naked lady all name Colchicum, a genus that is neither crocus nor saffron. Its bare, crocus-like flowers rise in autumn months before any leaves appear, and every one of its roughly 160 species is toxic. The same poison, colchicine, is also a prescription treatment for gout.
Colchicums grow from irregular corms and belong to their own family, the Colchicaceae, while true crocuses sit in the iris family. Telling them apart takes a close look inside the flower: a colchicum has three styles and six stamens, a crocus one style splitting into three stigmas and just three stamens. The ovary of a colchicum stays below ground, so its styles are remarkably long, often more than 10 centimetres. Naked lady refers to the flowers appearing without foliage; strap-shaped leaves follow in spring.
The genus runs from western Asia and Europe along parts of the Mediterranean and down eastern Africa to the Western Cape. Its name recalls Colchis, the land in modern Georgia where the Argonauts sought the Golden Fleece and Jason met Medea, and the Greek word probably comes from an Urartian name, Qulha. Molecular studies have folded several former genera into Colchicum, though some botanists still keep Androcymbium separate. Tropical species such as Colchicum melanthioides break the usual pattern, producing flowers and leaves together, and a few relatives with stubby flower stalks may be pollinated by rodents. The spring meadow saffron grows wild in mountains from the Pyrenees to the Caucasus.
Leaves, corms and seeds all carry the alkaloid colchicine, and Colchicum autumnale contains the most lethal dose. Its long use in folk remedies probably reflects that drug, which modern medicine uses against gout and familial Mediterranean fever. The nineteenth-century poisoner Catherine Wilson is believed to have used it on several victims.
Gardeners grow the temperate species for late colour, and Britain's Royal Horticultural Society has given several of them its garden merit award. Britain's National Collection is kept at Felbrigg Hall in Norfolk.
Source: Colchicum
