Colchicum eucomoides

Colchicum eucomoides was previously known as Androcymbium eucomoides and Melanthium eucomoides respectively, during different stages of the plant being recorded botanically.

This geophyte or cormous perennial is stemless, its prostrate leaves long, narrow and tapering, grading into shorter bracts that envelop the flowers. There are usually two or three leaves, each shallowly channelled along the centre. The above-ground plant parts tend to die back in summer.

The species is distributed from Namaqualand along the west coast to the Cape Peninsula and eastwards along the Little Karoo and coastally into the Eastern Province.

The habitat is flats and slopes of damp clay, loam, gravelly or sandy soils among a variety of vegetation types. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Manning, 2007; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2010; iSpot; www.redlist.sanbi.org).