''Colchicum stevenii'', or Steven's meadow saffron, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. They include all forbs (flowering plants without a woody stem), grasses and grass-like plants, a vast majority of ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Colchicaceae. Hebrew: סתוונית היורה, Arabic: سَراجُ الغولة, سُورَنْجان

Description

Perennial. Corm oblong, tunics blackish prolonged along the sheath. Leaves 5-7, glabrous, very narrow, appearing at the same time as flowers. Flowers fasciculate, 3-10, short, pink, surrounded with a transparent sheath. Tube 5-6 times longer than perianth. Tepals obtuse or subacute, 20 mm long over 2–3 mm wide. Stamens yellowish, a little shorter than the filiform styles. It flowers in October–December, coinciding with the onset of the rainy season in the Levant, and is one of the first autumn flowers to bloom. Its violet-pink flowers will cover the burnt-out vegetation overnight after the very first rain.

Taxonomy

''Colchicum stevenii'' was first described by

Kunth Carl Sigismund Kunth (18 June 1788 – 22 March 1850), also Karl Sigismund Kunth or anglicized as Charles Sigismund Kunth, was a German botanist. He is known for being one of the first to study and categorise plants from the American continent ...

in 1843. The specific epithet ''stevenii'' honours

Christian von Steven Christian von Steven (russian: Христиан Христианович Стевен - Khristian Khristianovich Steven; 19 January 1781, in Fredrikshamn, Vyborg Governorate – 30 April 1863, in Simferopol, Crimea) was a Finnish-born Russi ...

, author of various transactions of the Imperial Society of Naturalists of Moscow published since 1838.

Distribution and habitat

''C. stevenii'' is native to the eastern Mediterranean:

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...

, the East Aegean Islands,

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

– Syria,

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, the Palestine region and

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. It is found in fields, meadows, woodland, rocky places along coasts, and lower and middle elevation mountains.

Chemistry

''Colchicum'' species contain

colchicine Colchicine is a medication used to treat gout and Behçet's disease. In gout, it is less preferred to NSAIDs or steroids. Other uses for colchicine include the management of pericarditis and familial Mediterranean fever. Colchicine is tak ...

, a substance capable of doubling the chromosome numbers of young dividing cells thus causing genetical changes in the tissues which may be useful in agriculture. Meadow saffrons were known to the ancients as a dangerous poison (see ''

Colchicum brachyphyllum ''Colchicum szovitsii'' subsp. ''brachyphyllum'', synonym ''Colchicum brachyphyllum'', is a subspecies of '' Colchicum szovitsii''. Nomenclature The subspecies name ''hrachyphyllum'' is formed from the Greek ''brakhus'', short, and ''phullon ...

''), and they are presently used as medicinal plants for the treatment of gout, the active agent being the colchicine they contain.Mustapha Nehmeh, Wild Flowers Of Lebanon, National Council For Scientific Research,1978,page139.

References

* Georges Tohme & Henriette Tohme, Illustrated Flora of Lebanon, National Council For Scientific Research, Second Edition 2014. * George Sfikas, Wildflowers of Cyprus, Efstathiadis Group; 1st edition, 1998 * Avi Shmida, Handbook of Wildflowers of Israel, Keter, 1992 {{Taxonbar, from=Q7219489 stevenii Flora of Cyprus Flora of the East Aegean Islands Flora of Lebanon and Syria Flora of Palestine (region) Flora of Turkey