Genus: Colchicum
Common name: Autumn Crocus. Meadow Saffron. Naked Ladies. Colchicum Autumnale.
Family: Liliaceae (Lily)
Unlike other perennial plants in the Lily family, Colchicum autumnale blooms in the autumn, with a pretty solitary flower atop a naked 4 – 6 inch stem. Leaves emerge from the underground corms in the spring. Native to Europe, North Africa, North India, and West China, Colchicum autumnale can also be found in parts of the United States and Canada. All parts of the plant are toxic due to the colchicine content, yet the alkaloid colchicine is used in conventional medicine to treat gout, rheumatism, pericarditis, and Behcet’s syndrome.
As a homeopathic remedy, Colchicum has an affinity for the digestive tract, muscles, and joints, therefore it is useful for symptoms of diarrhea, gout, arthritis, and rheumatism. During pregnancy, when there is horrible nausea and extreme sensitivity to food odors, this remedy could provide relief. There may be irritability and an oversensitivity to rudeness and conflict, which aggravates the physical symptoms, which are also worse in the damp, cold weather of autumn.
Keynotes:
- Weakness, collapse, prostration, debility
- Gout with joint inflammation
- Wandering arthritis, joint pains worse from slight motion, acute rheumatism of hands and feet
- Oversensitivity to odors, especially to cooking odors, fish, and eggs
- Nausea, retching, vomiting, headache and faintness from sight, smell, or thought of food
- Morning sickness of pregnancy
- Flatulence, abdominal distension from trapped gas
- Diarrhea in autumn
- Aggravation of symptoms in the autumn
- Chilly and worse from cold or cold and damp
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