Colchicum Visianii

Colchicum visianii is a historic name applied to a Balkan autumn-flowering colchicum now generally included within the variable C. haynaldii. It produces low lilac to rosy-purple goblets from bare soil, followed months later by broad spring leaves that replenish the underground corm before summer dormancy. The old name remains useful in horticulture for tracing cultivated stocks and regional forms, so seedlings may reveal subtle differences in flower shade, veining and stature. Best grown in sun or light shade in fertile, free-draining soil, it is attractive but dangerously poisonous.