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Colchicaceae
Autumn Crocus
Colchicum autumnale
Best days are over, regret, autumn surprise.
- Family
- Colchicaceae
- Genus
- Colchicum
- Native to
- Europe, western Asia
- Bloom season
- Fall
- Type
- Cormous perennial
- Height
- 10–20 cm
- Sunlight
- Full sun to part shade
- Soil
- Rich, well-drained
- Water
- Moderate
- Hardiness
- 5–9
- Lifespan
- Long-lived corm
Did you know
- Despite the common name 'autumn crocus', Colchicum is not a true crocus at all — it's a member of an entirely different plant family.
- The flowers emerge in fall on bare leafless stems, then leaves appear the following spring and die back by summer — a strange backwards life cycle.
- Colchicum is the source of colchicine, a powerful drug used to treat gout and familial Mediterranean fever — and also used by plant breeders to artificially double chromosomes and create polyploid hybrids.
- Every part of the plant is extremely toxic, and there's no antidote for colchicine poisoning — historically it was used as a discreet murder weapon.
- Vincent van Gogh painted Colchicum in his garden at Saint-Rémy, capturing the strange beauty of pink flowers springing up from autumn earth.
Color meanings
Pink
Bittersweet beauty