No Gout Here!

Autumn crocuses (Colchicum autumnale) in the University Parks, which I often use as a route through on my way from my office to the bus stop. They are a little past their best, but still have a wonderful colour. There are several massed clumps around the flower bed where I took this photograph.

The plants, and especially their corms, contain the substance colchicine (N-?[(7S)-?1,?2,?3,?10-?tetramethoxy-?9-?oxo-?5,?6,?7,?9-?tetrahydrobenzo?[a]?heptalen-?7-?yl]?acetamide, in case you would like to know!). For many years, colchicine has been used as a treatment for gout, and especially for acute flare-ups. However, the substance is also highly toxic, and the margin between therapeutic and fatal doses is small. There is apparently no known specific antidote against colchicine poisoning...

I have long associated autumn crocuses with poison! In about 1960, my then girl-friend (currently my wife) and I were staying for a few days at a very rural farmhouse in the Black Forest in Germany. We came upon patches of autumn crocuses, which we could not identify, and described them to our German hosts, who exclaimed that they were sehr giftig. Of course, we had to look up giftig in the dictionary (as, indeed, we had to check almost all German words in those days), and discovered that it meant 'poisonous'; and we were told by the farmers' families in no uncertain terms not to pick or touch the flowers. More than 50 years ago: my, oh my!