''Colchicum ritchii'', or the Egyptian autumn crocus, is a plant species native to the southeastern

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

east to the

Arabian Peninsula The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate ...

Description

''Colchicum ritchii'' grows from a

corm A corm, bulbo-tuber, or bulbotuber is a short, vertical, swollen underground plant stem that serves as a storage organ that some plants use to survive winter or other adverse conditions such as summer drought and heat (perennation). The word ' ...

which is oval measuring 2-3.5 cm across, and covered with a loose brown skin. The leaves, which emerge and develop at the same time as the flowers, are largely hairless and elongate after flowering to form a cone which protects the developing fruits. The flowers which appear in December, January and February are white or pink, with plants with either colour frequently growing alongside each other. Each plant produces 2-10 flowers, which each have 6

tepal A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth). The term is used when these parts cannot easily be classified as either sepals or petals. This may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated (i.e. of very ...

s, 6

anther The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filam ...

s and 3 styles. The inner tepals are ridged with just one, or at most very few teeth at the base, near the base of the anther. The anthers are black, but get covered by yellow pollen. The fruit is a green, irregularly shaped capsule, up to 35 mm long and 15 mm across which contains round, globular seeds.

Habitat

''Colchicum ritchii'' is a plant of sand and loess soils in desert and shrub-steppes .

Distribution

''Colchicum ritchii'' is found from

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

in the west to

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

and

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, ''Colchicum ritchii''
/ref>

Uses

Extracts from ''Colchicum ritchii'' are used in traditional medicine to treat

arthritis Arthritis is a term often used to mean any disorder that affects joints. Symptoms generally include joint pain and stiffness. Other symptoms may include redness, warmth, swelling, and decreased range of motion of the affected joints. In som ...

rheumatism Rheumatism or rheumatic disorders are conditions causing chronic, often intermittent pain affecting the joints or connective tissue. Rheumatism does not designate any specific disorder, but covers at least 200 different conditions, including art ...

gout Gout ( ) is a form of inflammatory arthritis characterized by recurrent attacks of a red, tender, hot and swollen joint, caused by deposition of monosodium urate monohydrate crystals. Pain typically comes on rapidly, reaching maximal intensit ...

and abdominal colics.

Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu (; , singular ) are nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia. The Bedouin originated in the Syrian Desert and A ...

children dig up the corms from the desert to sell them after drying them to herbalists in

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

and other Egyptian cities. The anti-inflammatory drug colchicine was originally extracted from closely related species to this plant in ancient Egypt.

Etymology

''Colchicum ritchii'' was named by Robert Brown after

Joseph Ritchie Doctor Joseph Ritchie (c. 1788 – 20 November 1819) was an English surgeon, explorer and naturalist. His primary interest lay in the natural sciences, though he is best known for playing a minor role in the British exploration of Africa. Lif ...

who he said was the first to observe the plant near

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to: Cities and other geographic units Greece *Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...

References

External links

Wild Flowers of Israel, ''Colchicum ritchii''
* ttp://flora.org.il/plants/COLRIT/ Flora of Israel Online, ''Colchicum ritchii'', Saffron Negev {{Taxonbar, from=Q15539567 ritchii Plants described in 1826 Flora of Saudi Arabia Flora of Lebanon and Syria Flora of Palestine (region) Sinai Peninsula Flora of Egypt Flora of Libya Flora of Tunisia Taxa named by Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773)