Colchicum bulbocodium

Spring Flower Light ( Colchicum bulbocodium )

Called The Spring Flower Light ( Colchicum bulbocodium ), also Candlemas light flower or flower, is a plant of the genus Colchicum, which belongs to the family of crocus plants ( Colchicaceae ). It flowers in late winter and spring.

Description

Colchicum bulbocodium is a perennial herbaceous plant that reaches the stature heights of 5 to 15 cm. This Geophyt forms a tuber sprout as Überdauerungsorgan. The two to three undergraduate leaves are dark green and lanceolate.

Up to three flowers per plant to bloom for three weeks and remember an oversized crocus. The hermaphrodite flowers are triple. The six equally diverse bloom are interlocked into a tube and usually purple-pink colored or rarely white. The stylus is above columns. The flowering time is depending on the weather between early February and late April.

It is formed a capsule fruit. The seeds mature in late spring to summer.

Occurrence

Colchicum bulbocodium occurs in central and southern Europe, the Pyrenees and the Alps, most commonly in the Valais ( Switzerland ). They are rare, but then in pretty large stocks. The deposits are montane to subalpine, rarely colline, mostly at altitudes between 500 and 2000 meters. This species grows wild in full sun, moist spring ( when the snow melts ) and summer-dry, alpine meadows.

It occurs in larger herds in the Valais Alps ( Switzerland ) and in the Hungarian- Romanian-Ukrainian border area. In the Eastern Alps, there is a single local occurrence on a steep slope of Gerlitze near Villach ( Carinthia ). This site was only discovered in 1911. The approximately 2 ha area was placed entirely under protection and is managed by the Austrian Society for Nature Conservation. Among other things, it was fenced off and away to high spruce trees to give enough light to the rare species.

Your breed form is rarely planted in parks and gardens, especially in rock gardens as early bloomers.

System

The first publication of this kind took place in 1753 under the name Bulbocodium vernum by Carl Linnaeus in Species Plantarum, p 294 The name Colchicum bulbocodium in 1807 by John Bellenden Ker Gawler - in Bot Mag, 26: panel published 1028. Synonyms for Colchicum bulbocodium Ker Gawl. are: Colchicum montanum auct. non L., Bulbocodium ruthenicum Bunge, Bulbocodium vernum L., Colchicum vernum (L.) Stef. , Merendera verna (L.) Bubani.

From Colchicum bulbocodium Ker Gawl. following Untertaxa valid:

• Colchicum bulbocodium Ker Gawl. subsp. bulbocodium
• Colchicum bulbocodium var eden tatum ( Schur ) K.Perss. Romania
• Colchicum bulbocodium subsp. versicolor ( Ker Gawl. ) K.Perss. central Italy, Eastern Europe between Hungary and the Caucasus

Pictures

Closeup of flower.

Leaves in spring.

Leaves with fruit capsule.