_Tuber vel Bulbus vel Radix Colchici_; _Meadow Saffron Root_; F. _Bulbe
de Colchique_; G. _Zeitlosenknollen_.
=Botanical Origin=—_Colchicum autumnale_ L.—This plant grows in meadows
and pastures over the greater part of Northern Africa, Middle and
Southern Europe, and is plentiful in many localities in England and
Ireland. In the Swiss Alps, it ascends to an elevation of 5500 feet
above the sea-level.
=History=—Dioscorides drew attention to the poisonous properties
of Κολχικὸν, which he stated to be a plant growing in Messenia and
Colchis.[2615]
[2615] His description is exact, except that he declares the corm to
have a _sweet_ taste, which seems not true for _Colchicum autumnale_,
but may be so for some other species.
This character for deleterious qualities seems to have prevented
the use of colchicum both in classical and mediæval times. Thus
Tragus (1552) warns his readers against its use in gout, for which
it is recommended in the writings of the Arabians. Jacques Grévin,
a physician of Paris, author of _Deux Livres des Venins_, dedicated
to Queen Elizabeth of England, and printed at Antwerp in 1568,
observes—“ce poison est ennemy de la nature de l’homme en tout et
par tout.” Dodoens calls it _perniciosum Colchicum_; and Lyte in his
translation of this author (1578) says—“Medow or Wilde Saffron is
corrupt and venomous, therefore not used in medicine.” Gerarde declares
the roots of “_Mede Saffron_” to be “very hurtfull to the stomacke.”
Wedel published in 1718, at Jena, an essay _De Colchico veneno et
alexipharmaco_, in which, to show the great disfavour in which this
plant had been held, he remarks,—“hactenus ... velut infame habitum
et damnatum fuit colchicum, indignum habitum inter herbas medicas vel
officinales....” He further states that, in the 17th century, the corms
were worn by the peasants in some parts of Germany as a charm against
the plague.
In the face of these severe denunciations, it is strange to find that
in the London Pharmacopœia of 1618 (the second edition), “_Radix
Colchici_,” as well as _Hermodactylus_, is enumerated among the simple
drugs; and again in the editions of 1627, 1632 and 1639. It is omitted
in that of 1650, and does not reappear in subsequent editions until
1788, when owing to the investigations of Störck (1763), Kratochwill
(1764), De Berge (1765), Ehrmann (1772), and others, the possibility of
employing it usefully in medicine had been made evident.
=Development of the Corm=[2616]—At the period of flowering, the corm
is surrounded with a brown, closed double membrane or tunic, which
is prolonged upwards into a sheath around the flowering stem; at the
base of the corm is a tuft of simple roots. On removing the membranes,
we find a large, ovoid, fleshy body (Corm No. 1), marked at its apex
by a depressed scar, the point of attachment of the flower-stem of
the previous year; it is on one side flattened, and traversed by a
shallow longitudinal furrow, from the upper part of which arises a much
smaller and rudimentary corm (No. 2), bearing a flower-stem. After the
production of the flower in the autumn, Corm No. 2 increases in size,
throwing up as spring advances its fruit-stem and leaves, and acquires,
after these latter have come to maturity, its full development. Corm
No. 1 on the other hand, having performed its functions, shrivels and
diminishes in size, in proportion as No. 2 advances to maturity, and
ultimately decays, leaving a rounded cicatrix, showing its point of
attachment to its successor.
=Collection=—In England the corms are usually dug up and brought to
market in July, at the period between the decay of the foliage and the
production of the flower, or even after the latter has appeared. For
some preparations, they are used in the fresh state. If to be dried, it
is customary to slice them across thinly and evenly with a knife, and
to dry the slices quickly in a stove with a gentle heat; the membranes
are afterwards removed by sifting or winnowing.
Schroff has stated, as the result of his experiments,[2617] that the
corms possess the greatest medicinal activity when collected in the
autumn during or after inflorescence; that they ought to be dried
entire, by exposure to the sun and air; and that if thus preserved,
they lose none of their strength, even if kept for several years.
[2616] The term _corm_ is applied by English writers to the short,
fleshy, bulb-shaped base of an annual stem, either lateral as in
_Colchicum_, or terminal as in _Crocus_. By many continental botanists,
the corm of _Colchicum_ is regarded either as a form of tuber, or of
bulb.
[2617] _Oesterreichische Zeitschrift für praktische Heilkunde_, 1856,
Nos. 22-24; also Wiggers, _Jahresbericht der Pharm._ 1856. 15.
=Description=—The fresh corm is conical or inversely pear-shaped, about
2 inches long by an inch or more wide, rounded on one side, flattish
on the other, covered by a bright brown, membranous skin, within
which is a second of paler colour. When cut transversely, it appears
white, firm, fleshy and homogeneous, abounding in a bitter, starchy
juice, of disagreeable odour. The dried slices are inodorous, and have
a bitterish taste. They should be of a good white, clean, crisp and
brittle,—not mouldy or stained.
=Microscopic Structure=—The outer membrane is formed of
tangentially-extended cells, with thick brownish walls; the main body
of the corm, of large thin-walled, more or less regularly globular
cells, loaded with starch, and interrupted by vascular bundles
containing spiral vessels. The original form of the starch granules is
globular or egg-shaped, but from mutual pressure and agglutination,
many are angular or truncated. A large proportion are more or less
compound, consisting of several granules united into one. In all, the
hilum is very distinct, appearing in some as a mere point, but in most
as a line or star.
=Chemical Composition=—The corms contain _Colchicin_ (see next
article), starch, sugar, gum, resin, tannin, and fat. When sliced
and dried, they lose about 70 per cent. of water.[2618] By drying,
the (probably) volatile body upon which the odour of the fresh corm
depends, is lost.
=Uses=—Colchicum is much prescribed in cases of gout, rheumatism,
dropsy, and cutaneous maladies.
Other medicinal species of Colchicum.
Under the name _Hermodactylus_,[2619] the corms of other species of
_Colchicum_ of Eastern origin anciently enjoyed great reputation in
medicine. These corms are in structure precisely like those of ordinary
colchicum; they are entire, but deprived of membranous envelopes, of a
flattened, heart-shaped form, not wrinkled on the surface, and often
very small in size. The starch grains they contain are similar to those
of _C. autumnale_, but in some specimens twice as large.
There is a great uncertainty as to the species of _Colchicum_ which
furnish hermodactyls. Prof. J. E. Planchon, who has written an
elaborate article on the subject,[2620] is in favour of _C. variegatum_
L., a native of the Levant. But one can hardly suppose this plant to
be the source of the hermodactyls (_Sūrinjān_) of the Indian bazaars,
which are stated to be brought from Kashmir.
[2618] This is the average obtained during ten years in drying 16 cwt.,
in the laboratory of Messrs. Allen and Hanburys, London.
[2619] The _Bitter Hermodactyl_ of Royle is not in our opinion the
produce of a _Colchicum_ at all; see also Cooke in _Pharm. Journ._
April 1, 1871.
[2620] _Ann. des Sciences Nat._, Bot., iv. (1855) 132; abstract in
_Pharm. Journ._ xv. (1856) 465.