[2614] So called from Schlechtendal’s name for the plant, Veratrum officinale.
[2615] His description is exact, except that he declares the corm to have a sweet taste, which seems not true for Colchicum autumnale, but may be so for some other species.
[2616] The term corm is applied by English writers to the short, fleshy, bulb-shaped base of an annual stem, either lateral as in Colchicum, or terminal as in Crocus. By many continental botanists, the corm of Colchicum is regarded either as a form of tuber, or of bulb.
[2617] Oesterreichische Zeitschrift für praktische Heilkunde, 1856, Nos. 22-24; also Wiggers, Jahresbericht der Pharm. 1856. 15.
[2618] This is the average obtained during ten years in drying 16 cwt., in the laboratory of Messrs. Allen and Hanburys, London.
[2619] The Bitter Hermodactyl of Royle is not in our opinion the produce of a Colchicum at all; see also Cooke in Pharm. Journ. April 1, 1871.
[2620] Ann. des Sciences Nat., Bot., iv. (1855) 132; abstract in Pharm. Journ. xv. (1856) 465.
[2621] London Medical Repository, Aug. 1, 1820.
[2622] Pharm. Journ. ix. (1867) 249.
[2623] Proc. Americ. Pharm. Assoc. 1867. 363.