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Colchicum variegatum

Colchicum variegatum
Photo: Markus Sprenger, CC BY-SA 3.0

Colchicum variegatum is a small autumn-flowering bulb (corm) from Greece and Turkey, with white, checkered or spotted flowers that appear before the leaves. It needs full sun to part shade, dry summers and well-drained soil.

Family
Colchicaceae (Colchic family)
Grows as
Bulb, Perennial
Light
Full sun, Part shade
Water
Water freely in autumn when it flowers and grows, then keep dry in summer while dormant.
Soil
Free-draining soil, gritty or sandy, or a loam with added grit.
Temperature
Hardy to about -15 °C; tolerates cold winters well.
How easy
Easy
Safety
Toxic: All parts, especially the corms and seeds, contain colchicine and other alkaloids that are poisonous if eaten.
Native range
SE. Greece to SW. & S. Türkiye
Climate
temperate

About

Colchicum variegatum is a species of plant native to Greece and Turkey and cultivated in many other places.

Colchicum variegatum is a perennial herb forming an underground corm. Tepals are broadly lanceolate, white, mottled with numerous brown or purple markings, sometimes taking the form of spots, other times forming a checkerboard or chessboard pattern.

Other Colchicum plants

Alpine Autumn Crocus · Autumn crocus · White Autumn Crocus · Colchicum boissieri · Spring Meadow Saffron · False Autumn Crocus · Tenore Autumn Crocus · Colchicum davisii · Colchicum hungaricum · Colchicum kotschyi · Colchicum lingulatum · Indian Colchicum

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Colchicum variegatum by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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