Species
+

Colchicum speciosum Steven

Giant Meadow Saffron, showy colchicum

Climate known 29 photographs Bulb, tuber or caudex
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Colchicum speciosum is a species of flowering plant in the family Colchicaceae, native to mountainous areas of northern Turkey, the Caucasus and northern Iran. Growing to 18 cm (7 in) tall by 10 cm (4 in) wide, it is an herbaceous perennial growing from corms. C. speciosum blooms in the fall, producing reddish/violet flowers on stems up to 30 centimetres (12 in) tall without any leaves present. The strap-like leaves grow in the spring, then yellow, wither and die back as summer progresses. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Colchicum speciosum”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Colchicum

Colchicum is a genus of perennial flowering plants containing around 160 species which grow from bulb-like corms. It is a member of the botanical family Colchicaceae, and is native to West Asia, Europe, parts of the Mediterranean coast, down the East African coast to South Africa and the Western Cape. In this genus, the ovary of the flower is underground. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Colchicum”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Colchicaceae
Described by
Steven
Native to
North Caucasus, Transcaucasus, Iran +1
Wild records
188 in range· 85 open

At a glance

Warmest month
20°C
Aug, mean day; nights 11 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
2088mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Nov 220 mm (CHELSA)
Light
11–38DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Grouped as a bulb, tuber or caudex by the genus Colchicum, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (September to January, March and May to June in the northern hemisphere). Habitat rain 2088 mm a year, wettest November at 220 mm, driest August at 143 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 11 to 38 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -14.3 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Colchicum bornmuelleri Freyn; Colchicum giganteum S.Arn.; Colchicum hyrcanicum Woronow; Colchicum latifolium Griseb.; Colchicum lenkoranicum (Miscz.) Grossh. and 2 more.

Cultivation

Grouped as a bulb, tuber or caudex by the genus Colchicum, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). The table holds no figure for this group, which spans too much for one minimum; the cold floor is the habitat's alone, and no prose comes from the table.

Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (September to January, March and May to June in the northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (1477 mm of 2088 mm) takes 8 months, September to January, March and May to June. Mean temperature moves 21.4 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: March to July, September and November to December.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 2088 mm a year, wettest November at 220 mm, driest August at 143 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

2088 mm a year at the habitat, 1477 mm of it September to January, March and May to June. Wettest month November at 220 mm, driest August at 143 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 949 mm to 3014 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 11 to 38 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 11 to 38 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 8, the highest 90th-percentile month 41).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor -14.3 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -14.3 °C, the absolute minimum -22.2 °C, about 153 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 32.4 °C. Monthly means: coldest night -9.6 °C in January (across the envelope cells -15.7 °C to -1.7 °C), warmest day 19.7 °C in August (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -14.3 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 59 to 63% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from -2 °C in Jan to 20 °C in Aug; mean night from -10 °C in Jan to 11 °C in Aug. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 2088 mm of rain a year, most in Nov. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 102 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -22.2 °C and the 99th-percentile day 32.4 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°frost32.4° 99th-percentile day (undated)-22.2° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 11–38RH 59–63 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 102 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C-2 / -9–5-1 / -7–53 / -4–88 / 1–1413 / 6–1817 / 11–2220 / 15–2520 / 15–2516 / 11–2111 / 5–175 / -2–11-0 / -7–7
Night °C-10 / -16–-2-9 / -15–-2-6 / -12–1-1 / -6–54 / -3–108 / 2–1411 / 6–1711 / 6–178 / 1–142 / -4–9-4 / -11–4-8 / -14–0
Rain mm172 / 47–271148 / 61–241167 / 74–235158 / 93–228169 / 106–233170 / 108–246162 / 64–220143 / 66–216178 / 76–239206 / 86–290220 / 84–337195 / 49–312
DLI13 / 10–1619 / 16–2327 / 23–3133 / 30–3736 / 34–4038 / 36–4138 / 34–4135 / 32–3828 / 25–3020 / 17–2314 / 11–1711 / 8–14
RH %61 / 58–6360 / 58–6360 / 58–6260 / 59–6362 / 60–6463 / 60–6563 / 59–6762 / 58–6661 / 59–6560 / 58–6359 / 57–6360 / 57–63

Each figure is the median across the 102 grid cells holding the 169 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 964:4490 (41.775, 44.525). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -22.2 °C, 1st-percentile night -14.3 °C, 99th-percentile day 32.4 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 102 distinct grid cells holding the 169 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 964:4490 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 42.00_44.375, lapse-corrected +259 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1354 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeNorth Caucasus, Transcaucasus, Iran, Turkey· introduced: Altay, West Siberia
Kew's description“tuberous geophyte” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker43.297, 41.577 · in the densest population, 101 records (54% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 188 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 85 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 114 km away. 186 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 19 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 188 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Colchicum speciosumColchicum speciosumColchicum speciosumColchicum speciosumColchicum speciosumColchicum speciosumColchicum speciosumColchicum speciosum

Photographs: (c) ikelman, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Сергей Грабчак, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); no rights reserved · CC0; (c) Casey Chambliss, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Thomas Gyselinck, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Katharine Khamhaengwong, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Photographs: iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Colchicum speciosum, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Conventional and supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) of colchicine from Colchicum speciosum
Serhat Bayrak, Münevver Sökmen, Ezgi Aytaç, Atalay Sökmen (2018) · Industrial Crops and Products
Trabzon İlinde Bazı Doğal Bitkilerin Geleneksel Kullanımları
Sefa Akbulut, Zafer Cemal Özkan (2014) · Kastamonu University Journal of Forestry Faculty
Conservation and Sustainable Utilization of Rare Medicinal Plants in Samtskhe-Javakheti
Maia Akhalkatsi, Mariam Kimeridze, Marine Mosulishvili, Inesa Maisaia (2008)
Comparison of Seeds of Colchicum Speciosum and Gloriosa Superba in Respect to Colchicine and Colchicoside Contents by RP-LC
Mehmet Gümüştaş, Derya Çiçek Polat, Ceyda Sibel Kılıç, Kemalettin Akalın (2016) · Natural Product Communications
Minimum leaf width as an indicator of Colchicum speciosum Steven (Liliaceae) suitable for collection.
Sefa Akbulut, Zafer Cemal Özkan (2009) · Journal of Medicinal Plants Research
Comparative study of cholinergic activity of some tropolone and isoquinoline alkaloids
Е. В. Розенгарт, Н. Е. Басова, A. A. Suvorov (2006) · Journal of Evolutionary Biochemistry and Physiology
Tumor inhibitors. 88. The antileukemia principles of Colchicum speciosum.
Kupchan Sm, Britton Rw, Chiang Ck, Ningur NOYANALPAN (1973) · PubMed
Cholinergic activity of isoquinoline alkaloids from the showy autumn crocus (Colchicum speciosum Stev.)
Н. Е. Басова, Е. В. Розенгарт, A. A. Suvorov (2006) · Doklady Biochemistry and Biophysics
The study of gross beta-radioactivity of some medicinal plants in conditions of outdoor hydroponics and soil culture in Ararat Valley
Laura Ghalachyan, Stepan Mairapetyan, Аnoush Vardanyan, Lusya Hovhannisyan (2023) · Bioactive Compounds in Health and Disease - Online ISSN 2574-0334 Print ISSN 2769-2426
New and rare species in the flora of the Novosibirsk Region
Elena Yu. Zykova, Dmitry N. Shaulo (2021) · Turczaninowia
Responses of Colchicum speciosum L. populations to conventional and nano-fertilizers of nitrogen through changes in morphological and biochemical attributes
Masoud BABAIE NAEIJ, Maryam PEYVANDI, Hossein ABBASPOUR, Zahra Noormohammadi (2023) · Notulae Botanicae Horti Agrobotanici Cluj-Napoca

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Colchicum 160 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 28 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.