In the Garden: Grow it but don't eat it - Waterloo Region Record

Feeling creaky? Arthritis kicking in after spending time raking leaves or planting bulbs? By now, you’ve figured out how to deal with it, or you’ve quit gardening.

However, there could be a cure growing in your garden. Well, not really. The fall blooming crocus (Colchicum autumnale) is a plant source of colchicine, a drug used to treat gout, and the plant itself was described as a treatment for rheumatism in an Egyptian medical text over 3,000 years ago.

Benjamin Franklin, a gout sufferer himself, brought the plant to North America, no doubt in the hope it would cure his ailment. He’d even written a humorous piece that begins, “Eh! oh! eh! What have I done to merit these cruel sufferings?”

Who knows how effective it was for those who consumed it? Possibly the pain went away, along with any feeling, soon followed by the inability to breathe. ... I should point out here that, although the plant has identified medicinal properties, it would be unwise to eat it, as it also has poisonous properties.

A member of the lily family, colchicum grows from a corm, a corm that can be easily mistaken for a wild onion or wild garlic. Were it to be fried up and served up by a happy forager, the excuse of “Sorry, I thought it was an onion” won’t placate friends, if they survived. The symptoms are similar to those of arsenic, and there is no known antidote. I don’t know if it helped old Ben, but along the way someone though colchicum would make a rather nice garden plant. A native of Europe, it has since made its way across the U.S. and Canada, where it now grows in gardens everywhere.

Disregarding its dubious health benefits, it is an attractive, though strange plant. Wherever planted it appears in fall overnight, without warning. No leaves to be seen poking from the soil, presaging its presence; just a naked stem topped by a purplish-pink, crocuslike flower. The lack of leaves is the reason it’s also known as naked ladies.

The flower is similar to saffron (Crocus sativus), another fall-blooming plant. However, the saffron flower makes its appearance along with leaves. Colchicum does have leaves, floppy green ones, but they only show up in spring, and by summer they die away, leaving little evidence of a potential flower. Colchicum is hardy to Zone 4 (we’re in the warmer Zone 5). There are a few varieties, mostly in the purply-pink range, and there are other species that are white or yellow.

Now that I’ve convinced you what a wonderful plant the colchicum is, you’ll be wanting to buy the corms for planting, but I’m afraid it might be too late, at least for flowers this fall. The corms are best planted in late summer or early fall. If you do come across them while shopping for tulips, plant them anyway, in well-drained soils in full sun to part shade. If they don’t flower this fall, they will next year.

If you choose to grow fall crocus in your garden, it’s wise to be aware of the toxic properties, but don’t be overly concerned. If I were to rid my garden of anything potentially toxic, I’d find it half-empty. Like wild mushrooms, I’d never eat or taste any plant unless I’m 100 per cent certain of what it is. Fortunately, poisonous plants usually taste bad — I think. How it tasted is not something that would be asked of the poor soul who tried to ease their gout with colchicum.

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In the Garden: Grow it but don't eat it - Waterloo Region Record
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