Friday, December 30, 2011

Colchicum bivonae


Colchicum bivonae (κολχικό) (Colchicacea family) resembles the crocus in many ways but their main difference is that the latter has 3 filaments whereas colchicum has 6. Another difference is that it blooms in autumn. One of it's main characteristic are the glass shaped flowers with the white stripe in the middle of each petal. All parts of the plant are poisonous (due to the presense of the alkaloid colchicine) but especially the bulb and can cause vomiting and even lead to death. Because of the presense of this alkaloid it has been used in traditional medicine.
According to the greek mythology Medea used the poison from colchicum to poison her children.
It is a common flower in Greece. I saw those ones near Mesunta village close to Arta (Epirus).

3 comments:

Giga said...

Faktycznie jest bardzo podobny do krokusa. Jest śliczny, ale i niebezpieczny, jak trujący :-(. Pozdrawiam i dobrego 2012 roku.

Actually it is very similar to crocus. It is beautiful, but dangerous as poisonous :-(. Yours and a good 2012.

Marijke said...

Beautiful capture. The background information is very welcome.
gr. Marijke

Joop Zand said...

lovely with these raindrops and the color is fantastic.

Greetings, Joop