Species
+

Colchicum szovitsii Fisch. & C.A.Mey.

Colchicaceae

Climate known 17 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 szovitsii is a species of flowering plant in the family Colchicaceae, native from eastern Bulgaria to northwestern Jordan and Iran. It was first described in 1835.

Text from Wikipedia, “Colchicum szovitsii”, 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
Fisch. & C.A.Mey.
Native to
Bulgaria, Turkey-in-Europe, Turkmenistan +6
Wild records
162 in range· 38 open

At a glance

Warmest month
24°C
Aug, mean day; nights 12 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
704mm/yr
12 wet months · peak May 89 mm (CHELSA)
Light
14–45DLI
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: a winter growing season, February to June and November to December in the northern hemisphere (February to June and November to December at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 704 mm a year, wettest May at 89 mm, driest August at 25 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 14 to 45 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -14.1 °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.

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: a winter growing season, February to June and November to December in the northern hemisphere (February to June and November to December at the habitat, northern).

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

The rain rule reads a winter growing season: 70% of the year's rain (495 mm of 704 mm) falls in February to June and November to December, cooler than the year (wet-season mean 4.0 °C against a yearly mean of 7.2 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: May to June and August 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 704 mm a year, wettest May at 89 mm, driest August at 25 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

704 mm a year at the habitat, 495 mm of it February to June and November to December. Wettest month May at 89 mm, driest August at 25 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 405 mm to 1416 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: 14 to 45 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 14 to 45 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 12, the highest 90th-percentile month 51).

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 -14.1 °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 -14.1 °C, the absolute minimum -24.3 °C, about 159 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 35.4 °C. Monthly means: coldest night -10.1 °C in January (across the envelope cells -15.8 °C to -0.3 °C), warmest day 24.4 °C in August (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -14.1 °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: 54 to 61% 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 24 °C in Aug; mean night from -10 °C in Jan to 12 °C in Aug. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 704 mm of rain a year, most in May. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 50 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -24.3 °C and the 99th-percentile day 35.4 °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°frost35.4° 99th-percentile day (undated)-24.3° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200mm rainDLI 14–45RH 54–61 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 50 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 / -8–9-1 / -7–94 / -4–1310 / 2–1916 / 7–2420 / 11–3024 / 15–3324 / 15–3321 / 11–2914 / 6–236 / -1–161 / -6–11
Night °C-10 / -16–-0-9 / -15–-1-5 / -12–2-0 / -6–74 / -2–119 / 3–1512 / 6–1912 / 6–199 / 2–164 / -3–11-3 / -10–5-8 / -14–2
Rain mm61 / 25–15162 / 37–14771 / 51–12682 / 38–14389 / 23–14564 / 3–13335 / 1–9425 / 1–8331 / 2–8557 / 27–12964 / 42–13163 / 26–157
DLI17 / 14–2023 / 20–2731 / 27–3537 / 32–4241 / 36–4745 / 39–5145 / 38–5041 / 34–4734 / 27–4025 / 20–3017 / 14–2214 / 12–17
RH %61 / 57–6460 / 58–6459 / 56–6259 / 52–6258 / 48–6456 / 43–6456 / 44–6456 / 43–6354 / 41–6256 / 47–6259 / 53–6260 / 56–65

Each figure is the median across the 50 grid cells holding the 104 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 1105:4566 (34.725, 48.325). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -24.3 °C, 1st-percentile night -14.1 °C, 99th-percentile day 35.4 °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 50 distinct grid cells holding the 104 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1105:4566 (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 34.50_48.125, lapse-corrected +558 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 2378 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.
NativeBulgaria, Turkey-in-Europe, Turkmenistan, Transcaucasus, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon-Syria, Palestine, Turkey
Kew's description“tuberous geophyte” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker33.005, 35.431 · in the densest population, 112 records (69% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 162 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 38 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 1170 km away. 58 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 162 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Colchicum szovitsiiColchicum szovitsiiColchicum szovitsiiColchicum szovitsiiColchicum szovitsiiColchicum szovitsiiColchicum szovitsiiColchicum szovitsii

Photographs: (c) Mitch Van Dyke, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) yelena_antipova, some rights reserved (CC BY) (5).

Photographs: iNaturalist 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 szovitsii, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Chemical Profiling and Biological Properties of Extracts from Different Parts of Colchicum Szovitsii Subsp. Szovitsii
Gabriele Rocchetti, Biancamaria Senizza, Gökhan Zengin, Murat Ali Okur (2019) · Antioxidants
Two Trioxygenated Phenethylisoquinoline Alkaloids from Colchicum szovitsii
Emília Tojo, Mustafa Önür, Alan J. Freyer, Maurice Shamma (1990) · Journal of Natural Products
The Analgesic Effect and Possible Mechanism of Colchicum Szovitsii Methanolic Extract in Mouse
Mahmoud Reza Heidari, Vahedian Mohammad, S Moamenzadeh, M M Hayatbakhsh Abbasi (2005) · Journal of Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences
On the relationship between vegetation cover and physiographic factors in a gallery forest in southern Urmia, NW Iran
Maryam Mahmoodi, Elias Remezani, Javad Eshaghi-Rad, Mahnaz Heidari Rikan (2015) · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals)
Alkaloids of Colchicum szovitsii. III
M. K. Yusupov, Kh. A. Aslanov, Din' Tkhi Bik Ngo (1975) · Chemistry of Natural Compounds
Occurrence Download
GBIF.org User (2026) · Global Biodiversity Information Facility
Occurrence Download
GBIF.org User (2026) · Global Biodiversity Information Facility
Occurrence Download
GBIF.org User (2026) · Global Biodiversity Information Facility
Colchicum szovitsii Fisch. & C.A.Mey.
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (2026) · DiSSCo
Colchicum szovitsii Fisch. & C.A.Mey.
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (2026) · DiSSCo
Colchicum szovitsii Fisch. & C.A.Mey.
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (2026) · DiSSCo
Colchicum szovitsii Fisch. & C.A.Mey.
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (2026) · DiSSCo

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 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)
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 17 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.