Colchicum

(kõl'che-kům.) (Bot.) A gen. of plants. O. Melanthacer. The Meadow Saffron, C. autumn ale, an European species, has a subterranean bulb-like stem, called a corm, from which in autumn the light-purplish mottled flowers arise. These dried corms and the seeds of the plant are used in medicine for the alleviation or cure of gout. The active principle is said to be an alkaline substance of a very poisonous nature called colchicine. [s. 204]