The Flower-Fields of Alpine Switzerland: An Appreciation and a Plea

by G. Flemwell

ROSA ALPINA, the thornless Alpine Eglantine.

But it is not the flower-bud our casual observer sees; it is the seed-head. The plant blooms, leafless, in the autumn; its seed-vessel is tucked away for the winter a foot or more beneath the surface of the ground, to rise with the leaves in the spring, and to ripen with the leaves in the summer. Yet, if our casual friend is wrong as regards the nature of the seed-head in the spring, he is right as regards the nature of the leaves; though he is again wrong in the autumn, and this time as regards the nature of the flower. For the Colchicum is not a Crocus. Although its magenta-pink blossom is of Crocus-like form, it has six stamens and three styles with which the humble-bee may busy himself; whereas the Crocus has but three stamens and one style. There does exist a purple autumnal Crocus—Crocus nudiflorus, indigenous to England, and with the same habit of flowering and producing its seed as the Colchicum’s—but this and the Colchicum belong to different natural orders.

The Colchicum is a member of the Lily family, and, as such, is related to some of the most distinguished members of the flower-world. For this reason, too, it is allied to such diverse plants as the Herb Paris, the Lily-of-the-Valley, the Asparagus, and the Spiked Star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum pyrenaicum), an indigenous English plant whose young spring shoots are sold and eaten in Bath as “French” Asparagus. It has also as blood-relation the Onion and the Garlic, which, according to Professor G. S. Boulger, “were given divine honours by the ancient Egyptians”; also the curious Butcher’s Broom or Knee Holly, and the real Star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum umbellatum), whose bulbs in Palestine are cooked and eaten.

But if the bulbs and young shoots of some members of this singularly “mixed” family are esteemed as table delicacies, not so the bulbs and shoots of the Colchicum, for these are poisonous to a high degree—in fact, the whole of the plant may be labelled “Dangerous.” Although the flower is less poisonous than the seed and the bulb, yet many a time I have seen bees which had sought refuge from the night or from rough and stormy weather, lying prone and stark within the lovely pink chalices, victims of a misplaced confidence. The seed contains a deadly alkaloid (colchicin), used especially in cases of gout. Where the plant grows in quantities it depreciates the value of the meadows; for the cattle, wiser in their generation than the bees, give it a wide berth at all seasons. And it is no easy subject to drive from the fields when once it has gained firm footing. It buries its dark chestnut-coloured, scaly bulb at least a foot down in the peaty soil, necessitating the cutting of a good-sized hole before it can be extirpated. Hence, if it is growing as it almost invariably does, in fairly close-packed abundance, the meadow will have to be deep-dug all over; and such radical measure as this the peasants as a rule refuse to take, contenting themselves with pulling up the leaf and stalk before the fields are cut, or with sorting them out from the new-mown hay.

As a plant indigenous to the British Isles it is very local, though widely distributed. Saffron Walden, in Essex, is named after it, and it is found in Ireland and in some parts of Scotland, especially upon the damp meadows of limestone districts.

The name Colchicum, of Greek origin, is said to be derived from Colchis, a province in Asia famous for poisonous herbs. In England, besides the names of Autumn Crocus and Meadow Saffron (Crocus sativus is really the true Saffron Crocus), its flower is known in some parts of the country as Naked Boy, and in Dorset as Naked Lucy, an allusion, of course, to it being bare of leaves. In France its popular names are seemingly more various, and besides the general one of Colchique, it has those of Veilleuse, Veillotte, Violon, Vache, and Tue-chien; while in the patois of Marseilles it is known as Bramo-Vaco, and in that of Gascony as Safra dès prats. In Germany its best-known appellation is Herbst-Zeitlose.

There is an Alpine form of the Meadow Saffron—Colchicum alpinum—and this is to be found upon the fields from an altitude of about 3,000 feet to some 4,500 feet, according to M. Henry Correvon, and from about 1,800 feet to some 6,000 feet, according to Professor Flahault. Mr. Newell Arber calls it a rare plant “sometimes found in Canton Tessin and the Valais,” but my own experience is that it is local rather than rare, and that it is fairly frequent in Canton Valais, especially in non-limestone regions. Its habit is the same as that of autumnale: two to three upright leaves surrounding the fruit in the spring, and the flowers appearing “naked” in autumn upon “dim fields fresh with blooming dew.” But the leaves are narrower than those of autumnale, and the flower is smaller, daintier, more petite, with a suspicion of canary-yellow tinting the stem, which, in autumnale, is white or creamy-white.

I have sometimes noted the two—autumnale and alpinum—hob-nobbing upon the same slope or field. Such fraternity exists, for instance, quite near to the snug little village of Trient, beneath the Col de la Forclaz and the Col de Balme, and again on a rich grassy slope by the lake of Champex; and where this occurs the difference between the two flowers is manifest. Colchicum alpinum may be only the Alpine form of autumnale, but if it is, it is, I believe, a fixed form—a form which, unlike some Alpine forms of lowland flowers (such as, for example, Anthyllis vulneraria), steadfastly maintains its highland character when transported to the gardens of the plain. For if instability exists, why should we find upon the fields where both do congregate, no intermediate forms marking the passage of autumnale to alpinum and vice versa? I believe it to be as constant as is Gentiana brachyphylla, although this is said to be but a high Alpine form of G. verna. I believe it to be as “constant as the northern star.”