About Colchicum stevenii Kunth
Colchicum stevenii Kunth is a perennial plant that grows from an oblong corm, which has blackish tunics that extend along the plant's sheath. It produces 5 to 7 glabrous, very narrow leaves that emerge at the same time as its flowers. The short, pink flowers are arranged in fascicles, with 3 to 10 flowers per cluster. Each flower is surrounded by a transparent sheath. The floral tube is 5 to 6 times longer than the perianth. Tepals are obtuse or subacute, measuring 20 mm long and 2–3 mm wide. The yellowish stamens are slightly shorter than the filiform styles. This species flowers between October and December, which coincides with the start of the rainy season in the Levant, and it is one of the first autumn species to bloom. Its violet-pink flowers can cover burned-out vegetation overnight after the region's very first rain. Colchicum stevenii is native to the eastern Mediterranean, where it occurs in Cyprus, the East Aegean Islands, Lebanon, Syria, the Palestine region, and Turkey. It grows in a range of habitats including fields, meadows, woodland, coastal rocky places, and lower to middle elevation mountains.
