10/5/2023 0 Comments Colchicum plantMany of the species do not have flowers and leaves at the same time which makes wild collection for herbarium specimens a challenge. Many so-called species in cultivation are clones of hybrid or of uncertain origin. There is much confusion over the correct names of plants in the literature and misnaming in the trade as well so people will be growing plants under the wrong names. Some of the autumn ones flower before their leaves appear. There are both autumn and spring flowering species. Livingstone, Edinburg & London.Colchicum is a large genus in the Colchicaceae family found in Europe, North Africa and western to central Asia. 1962 Medicinal and poisonous plants of southern and eastern Africa. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 67: 149–156. Comparative morphology of the carpel in the Liliaceae: Colchicaceae (Androcymbium ). De Liliifloris Notulae 7: De decuria altera specierum novarum generis Androcymbium (Colchicaceae) in Africa Australis. Androcymbium (Colchicaceae) in Africa Australis. De Liliifloris Notulae 6: De decuria prima specierum novarum generis Androcymbium sect. The families and genera of vascular plants, vol. A conspectus of the Cape flora of South Africa. This can be done as soon as the foliage has died down in early midsummer or before growth commences. These plants can also be increased by separating the cormels or offsets from the corms. Plants can also be grown in pots without bottoms which are sunk into the rockery. Plants will take about 4 years to flower if grown from seed. It is more usual to plant the seed of winter growing geophytes in autumn (fall) at the commencement of the growing season, and to transplant the corms when dormant. Bryan (1989) advises planting immediately in well drained soil in pots, then separating to individual pots when large enough to handle and the following spring transplanting into the rockery. The seed will ripen very quickly in hot, dry weather. Plants can also be grown in deep containers in a well drained medium.Ĭolchicums can be propagated from fresh seed. In frost free areas with winter rainfall, a spot in the rock garden is a most suitable place to cultivate and display most of the species outdoors. Stop watering as soon as the foliage starts dying back at the end of the growing season. They need a well-drained soil with more sand than humus as well as a warm spot in full sun with a dry resting period when they are dormant. Species from the summer rainfall region will require the reverse. Most of the Cape species have curious, cupped tepal limbs, which hold the nectar, and often broad, colourful floral bracts that resemble large petals, which envelope the small flowers.īeing mostly plants of the winter rainfall region in the Mediterranean and in southern Africa, most require moisture during the winter months, but none in summer. The fruit is an ovoid capsule that spilts open along the edges of each chamber (septicidal). The ovary is cylindrical deeply lobed, has three free styles and many ovules per locule. The six stamens are attached to the lower part of the tepals. They have a swollen yellow nectary at the base. There are six tepals (rarely 7–12), which are not joined to form a tube. The flowers are found at the base of the bract and are usually green-white. The inflorescence is single to few-flowered, bracteate and usually forming a congested raceme the bracts are leaf-like or broader and often coloured or patterned, the inner bracts are successively smaller. They have a soft leathery texture and the margins are sometimes crisped and smooth or ciliolate or bristly. Leaves are few to several, and scattered along the stem or, in the stemless species, congested and often prostrate, ovate to linear-lanceolate, clasping below, parallel-veined, often with a distinct midrib when broad, the leaves are arching. It has a fan-like, basal fold, and is covered with dark leathery to woody tunics. All species have an ovoid corm (a corm unlike a bulb, is a stem that is swollen and modified for storage, flattened on top and slightly concave on the bottom: when upon being cut, the corm appears solid). Species of the genus Colchicum are short-stemmed or stemless reaching a the height of 150 mm. The name is derived from the Greek word, kolkhikon, referring to Colchis, an ancient region east of the Black Sea.
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