Michael Savage wrote:

AFAIK, there are two plants often called Autumn Crocus that turn up in the
wild in UK, Colchicum autumnale and Crocus nudiflorus - and it was the
latter that I always thought was naked ladies or naked boys (hence the
specific name?). The name for the Colchicum given in my Collins Guide is
Meadow Saffron but Clapham, Tutin and Warburg give that, Autumn Crocus and
Naked Ladies.

My interest in C. nudiflorus comes from working in the Mersey Valley in
Manchester where it grows wild, often in large numbers - a local botanist
has researched it and it is often associated with old churches, esp with the
Knights Hospitallers and other crusaders, who may have brought it back
a) thinking it was saffron
b) for dyeing
c) as a medicine
It likes grassy places that are cut sporadically and not in early spring
when it's putting on green growth - the biggest colony (1000s) is on a golf
course.

As for Colchicum, the thing that fascinates me about it is how it is
poisonous - it halts cell division which I guess causes tissue
death...nasty...

As a garden plant C. nudiflorus is maybe not as attractive as its more
vigorous relatives as mostly it seems very weak-stemmed - most of the ones
I've seen in the wild have been more or less horizontal...

Michael S

Thanks Michael, I must admid I did overlook Crocus nudiflorus, which
is (sadly) practically unknown in the bulb catalogues. You are quite
right, of course.
I must try to obtain it and try it out in my garden (if it's
commercially available).
Regards,
Roger.