Colchicum stevenii
Colchicum stevenii, or Steven's meadow saffron, is a species of flowering plant in the family Colchicaceae.
| Colchicum stevenii | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Monocots |
| Order: | Liliales |
| Family: | Colchicaceae |
| Genus: | Colchicum |
| Species: | C. stevenii |
| Binomial name | |
| Colchicum stevenii Kunth | |
Description
Perennial. Corm oblong, tunics blackish prolonged along the sheath. Leaves 5-7, glabrous, very narrow, appearing at the same time as flowers. Flowers fasciculate, 3-10, short, pink, surrounded with a transparent sheath. Tube 5-6 times longer than perianth. Tepals obtuse or subacute, 20 mm long over 2–3 mm wide. Stamens yellowish, a little shorter than the filiform styles.
Flowering
October–December.
Habitat
Fields, rocky places.
Distribution
Coast, lower and middle mountains.
Geographic area
Syria, Lebanon, the Palestine region, Tunisia, Turkey and Iran.
This meadow saffron is dedicated to C. von Steven, author of various transactions of the Imperial Society of Naturalists of Moscow published since 1838. Its pretty violet-pink flowers will cover the burnt-out vegetation overnight after the very first rain. Colchicum species contain colchicine, a substance capable of doubling the chromosome numbers of young dividing cells thus causing genetical changes in the tissues which may be useful in agriculture. Meadow saffrons were known to the ancients as a dangerous poison ( see Colchicum brachyphyllum), and they are presently used as medicinal plants for the treatment of the gout, the active agent being the colchicine they contain.[1]
References
- Mustapha Nehmeh, Wild Flowers Of Lebanon, National Council For Scientific Research,1978,page139.
- Georges Tohme & Henriette Tohme, Illustrated Flora of Lebanon, National Council For Scientific Research, Second Edition 2014.