Colchicum

I am planing to use Colchicum for converting diplos to tetra. A friend of mine have given me some bulbs of this plant. I don`t know which type it is. Have any one idea how to use it? Is it enough to crush the bulb and lay the scales in the juice for a few minutes? I know this plant is poison.

From what I have read, it is a very strong poison. Be very careful. There has probably been a good discussion or two on the subject on the Yahoo Lilium group. The most recent has been with oryzalin, another VERY toxic chemical with the same affect. Try searching there.

Post Edit: Colchicine is the most toxic of the two.

I do know that crushing the bulb for the juice was how it was initially use, but I don't think any more (except perhaps by tinkerers like yourself) because the concentration of the active ingredient (colchicine) is never known. I would suspect that different species of Colchicum might have differing concentrations as well, and perhaps there is a difference also between fall blooming ones and spring blooming.

Likewise, I would also suspect different species and hybrids of lilies would have differing reactions to the same colchicine solution.

Good luck! And keep good notes, please.

Rick

P.S. I will try searching the old NALS Lily yearbooks for you.

This message was edited Aug 30, 2010 4:50 PM

Wait! I got it backwards.
Colchicine is VERY toxic.
Oryzalin is also poisonous, but less so.

Looking at the lily yearbooks, I could find no specifics. Written in the 1992 volume,
Dr. Samuel A. Emsweller seems to be one of the first to experiment with colchicine on lilies in the late 1940's and early 1950's. He wrote in the 1949 American Journal of Botany. You might try google, google scholar or at www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

It says in the 1993 yearbook, page 36, that LeVern Freimann mashed colchicum bulbs and successfully applied it to scales (late 1970's/early 1980's, but doesn't give any specific information.

Rick

Colchicine is extremely toxic. Normally used in a powder form to change ploidy, it needs exact mixing to be successful. And the mixing can cause you to inhale enough to cut off your breathing.

Personally, I would hope you don't touch the stuff without major research. .

I want to add, I really don't want to discourage you, I just want to caution, and I do wish you luck.

This colchicine thing has always amazed me, actually. Like who was sitting around thinking why don't I use this gout medicine to change the ploidy on lilies or irises. Who, I ask. LOL.

In one of the Lily yearbook articles, it mentioned that colchicine viscosity is different that water, making it splash much easier. Another reason to be extremely careful.

The colchicine normally used comes from Colchicum autumnale.

Rick

Thank you all. I gonna study this well and i hope it will work.