Colchicum bulbocodium

Spring meadow saffron
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Plantae
Clade:Angiosperms
Clade:Monocots
Order:Liliales
Family:Colchicaceae
Genus:Colchicum
Species: C. bulbocodium
Binomial name
Colchicum bulbocodium
Synonyms[1]
  • Bulbocodium vernum L.
  • Colchicum vernum (L.) Stef
  • Merendera verna (L.) Bubani

Colchicum bulbocodium, the spring meadow saffron, is a species of alpine bulbs native to mountain ranges across Europe from the Pyrenees to the Caucasus (Spain, France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Romania, the former Yugoslavia, Ukraine, southern European Russia).[1][2]

Colchicum bulbocodium is cultivated as ornamental plants in many places. It has flowers considered ideal for the rock garden, which is beautiful en masse. The plant is a hardy spring flower bulb, very small in size, reaching about 7–10 cm high. From April to June, the strap-shaped leaves emerge with pink-to-purple crocus-like flowers, 3–8 cm in diameter. As all the species of the genus Colchicum, the species is a poisonous plant.[3]

Subspecies and varieties

Three infraspecific taxa of the species are currently recognized:[1]

  • Colchicum bulbocodium subsp. bulbocodium
    • var. bulbocodium
    • var. edentatum (Schur) K.Perss (syn. Bulbocodium edentatum Schur.) is indigenous to Romania.
  • Colchicum bulbocodium subsp. versicolor (Ker Gawl.) K. Perss. (syn. Bulbocodium versicolor (Ker Gawl.) Spreng.) is native in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus. The plant is in all its parts smaller than Colchicum bulbocodium subsp. bulbocodium.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, Colchicum bulbocodium
  2. ↑ Ker Gawler, John Bellenden. 1807. Botanical Magazine 26: sub t. 1028, Colchicum bulbocodium
  3. ↑ Pink, A. (2004). Gardening for the Million. Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.


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