Colchicum

Colchicum is a large genus in the Colchicaceae family found in Europe, North Africa and western to central Asia. They are all winter growers. There are both autumn and spring flowering species. Some of the autumn ones flower before their leaves appear. 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. Many so-called species in cultivation are clones of hybrid or of uncertain origin. Many of the species do not have flowers and leaves at the same time which makes wild collection for herbarium specimens a challenge. We attempt on this page to be as accurate as we can be, but until there is a revision which name is correct will be a matter of opinion. Colchicum photos on this page and the hybrids page taken by Arnold Trachtenberg are grown in his New Jersey garden, planted in garden soil augmented with 50% grit.

Colchicum are notoriously difficult and slow to grow from seeds because the seeds will not sprout without summer heat treatment and a cool down period during the autumn. Diana Chapman provided the following valuable tips for successful germination. Seeds should be sown fresh in a well-drained mix, covered with one or two cm of grit or course sand. Keep the mix slightly moist during the warm days of the summer. It is best to leave the seeds outdoors where they can experience the summer heat and fluctuations in temperature. In the fall, water well and allow the seeds to germinate. Some species may take two years to germinate so keep your pots for at least 2 years. Sporadic germination had been observed by gardeners after many years. Some growers have good success with soaking the seeds 1-2 days before sowing. This can be done by simply soaking in a bowl of water or placing the seeds in a stocking, tie the end and placed into a toilet bowl (water reservoir). Every flushing will wash away the inhibitors and allows the seeds to germinate.

The paper "Effects of Stratification, Temperature and Light On Seed Germination of Colchicum Macrophyllum B. L. Burtt", by Anna Antonidaki-Giatromanolaki, Magdalena Dragassaki, Michael Papadimitriou, and Ioannis Vlah, Vol. 8, ? 2, 2008: 105-107, Propagation of Ornamental Plants, concludes that the seeds need a warm moist period (eight weeks at 20 °C) followed by a move to cooler temperatures (10-15 °C) and darkness for germination.

Most authorities say that Colchicum grow from corms - sometimes this is debated. The genus takes its name from Colchis which in ancient times was an area near the modern day Republic of Georgia. A toxic chemical 'colchicine' is contained in some species; it has been used as a treatment for gout; it is also used to produce triploid and tetraploid mutations in the seeds of some plants. Photos of the corms of various species can be found in this SRGC forum post.

In the paper A phylogenetic analysis of the genus Colchicum L. (Colchicaceae) based on sequences from six plastid regions (Persson et al. 2011), the genus Merendera was discovered to be polyphyletic (meaning the species have evolved from separate ancestors). Thus, many authorities (The Plant List, Kew, et cetera) consider Merendera to be synonymous with Colchicum. In lieu of the evidence suggested by this paper, we have included Merendera in Colchicum.

Taxonomic changes proposed by Manning, Forest & Vinnersten (2007) suggested that Androcymbium be included in Colchicum. However, inclusion of Androcymbium into the already large genus Colchicum was made for "practical" reasons. The authors stated that there were no morphological characters that separated certain groups of Androcymbium found by molecular evidence. In 2023 most authorities have accepted this inclusion, but we are still showing the Androcymbium species on a separate wiki page with links to the individual species from the table below. Photos below illustrate some of those species.

For comparison, the photos below show a few of the species more commonly considered to be representative of this genus.

Pollination of Colchicum, and most species of Androcymbium, is carried out by bees and flies. A few species of Androcymbium are pollinated by rodents. Read more about the pollinators of Colchicum in the wild and in gardens in the article Colchicum as a Pollinator Plant by Travis Owen.

For more photos and information and photographs of Colchicum select one of the following wiki pages:
Colchicum a-h – Colchicum i-r – Colchicum s-z - Colchicum Hybrids – Androcymbium - Bulbocodium - Merendera

The table below shows species of Colchicum, as well as other genera proposed to be merged with Colchicum as outlined above:

Colchicum Species
Colchicum antilibanoticum	Colchicum austrocapense	Colchicum autumnale	Colchicum baytopiorum
Colchicum bivonae	Colchicum boissieri	*Colchicum bornmuelleri	Colchicum burchellii ssp. burchellii
Colchicum burchellii ssp. pulchrum	Colchicum brachyphyllum	Colchicum bulbocodium	Colchicum byzantinum
Colchicum capense ssp. capense	Colchicum capense ssp. ciliolatum	Colchicum cilicicum	Colchicum corsicum
Colchicum cupanii	Colchicum cuspidatum	Colchicum eichleri	Colchicum dregei
Colchicum eucomoides	Colchicum europaeum	Colchicum feinbruniae	Colchicum glossophyllum
Colchicum graecum	Colchicum hierosolymitanum	Colchicum hirsutum	Colchicum hungaricum
Colchicum irroratum	Colchicum kesselringii	Colchicum kotschyi	Colchicum kurdicum
Colchicum laetum	Colchicum leptanthum	Colchicum longipes	Colchicum lusitanum
Colchicum luteum	Colchicum macrophyllum	Colchicum montanum	Colchicum munzurense
Colchicum neapolitanum	Colchicum palaestinum	Colchicum pannonicum	Colchicum persicum
*Colchicum procurrens	Colchicum pusillum	Colchicum rechingeri	Colchicum rhodopaeum
Colchicum ritchii	Colchicum robustum	Colchicum sanguicolle	Colchicum serpentinum
* Colchicum sibthorpii	Colchicum soboliferum	Colchicum speciosum	Colchicum sp.
Colchicum stevenii	Colchicum striatum	Colchicum szovitsii	*Colchicum tenorei
Colchicum trigynum	Colchicum troodi	Colchicum tuviae	Colchicum umbrosum
Colchicum variegatum	*Colchicum vernum	Colchicum volutare

Colchicum Hybrids and Selections
Colchicum × agrippinum	Colchicum 'Autumn Herald'	Colchicum autumnale 'Album'	Colchicum autumnale 'Alboplenum'
Colchicum autumnale 'Pleniflorum'	Colchicum bivonae 'Apollo'	Colchicum 'Conquest'	Colchicum 'Dick Trotter'
Colchicum 'E.A.Bowles'	Colchicum 'Harlequin'	Colchicum 'Innocence'	Colchicum 'Lilac Wonder'
Colchicum 'Princess Astrid'	Colchicum 'Rosy Dawn'	Colchicum speciosum 'Album'	Colchicum speciosum 'Atrorubens'
Colchicum szovitsii 'Snow White'	Colchicum szovitsii 'Tivi'	Colchicum szovitsii 'Vardaovit'	Colchicum 'Waterlily'