Colchicum autumnale L.

Leafless at flowering in autumn, leaves produced in spring as fruit ripens. Corm 3–5 cm long, ovate; sheaths dark brown, ± leathery, elongate. Leaves 15–35 × 2–5 cm, spreading, clustered 4 or more, linear- to broadly-lanceolate, bright glossy-green, flat, ± obtuse, glabrous or slightly papillose on margins. Flowers solitary or 2–4, rarely more, pale to deep lilac, rarely white, 8–25 cm long, tube 2–5 times as long as oblong-elliptic lobes. Ovary remaining at base of perianth-tube in ground; styles very long, = or > stamens, recurved at tip to a small obtuse orange stigma. Capsule remaining underground until leaves are mature, when scape elongates and appears above ground ensheathed by leaves, to 8 cm long, oblong-ovate, acute, many-seeded, Seeds c. 3–6 mm diam., many, subglobose, brown, ± rough.

[From: Healy and Edgar (1980) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 3.]

Flowering: Mar.–Apr.