Colchicum speciosum, commonly known as autumn crocus or meadow saffron, is a perennial herb native to Central Asia. It has pale purple flowers and a fleshy conical root. Parts of the plant including the seeds, leaves, and corm have been used medicinally. It contains colchicine and related compounds. Research has explored using derivatives of colchicine as potential anticancer agents due to their ability to arrest cell division, though clinical trials are still underway.

1. COLCHICUMSPECIOSUM
Sadaqat Ali

2. Scientific classification
• Kingdom: Plantae
• Angiosperms
• Monocots
• Order: Liliales
• Family: Colchicaceae
• Genus: Colchicum
• Species: C. speciosum

3. Common name:
• Autumn Crocus
• Naked Lady
• Meadow Saffron
• Colchicum giganteum

4. Habitat
• Native to Central America.
• Colchicum is widely cultivated in Ukraine,
Moldova, Caucasus and Middle Asia.

5. Plant description
• Height :- This
perennial herb grows
to approximately 0.3
m long.

6. Flowers :-
• Has pale purple flowers

7. Fruit:
Is green when unripe,
changing principally to red,
although some varieties may
ripen to other colours including
brown and purple.

8. Root:-
• Fleshy conical root .
• Taste is hot spicy.

9. Part used
• Seeds
• Leaves
• corm

10. HOW TO GROW
• Cultivation
• Grow in moist but well-drained, deep, humus-
rich, fertile soil. Intolerant of water logging
• Propagation
• Propagate by seed, sowing in containers in an
open frame.
OR
• Separate corms when dormant in summer

11. Constituents
Contains
• colchicine
• capsaicinoids (0.1-1.9%) and the
main among them is capsaicin,
• Nordihydrocapsaicin
• Homodihydrocapsaicin.
• Fruits are rich in vitamins C, B1,
B2, nikotinic and folic acids,
carotinoids;
• Also contains steroidal saponins,
flavonoids, coumarin scopoletin;
• Salts of potassium, sodium,
calcium, aluminium, iron.

12. Concentrations of A.Constituents in
different parts
• Seed :-
• concentrations of colchicine may exceed 1% in
the seeds.
Corms:-
• 0.6% colchicine in corm
Dried leaves:-
• dried flowers and seeds contain 15 times as
much colchicine as fresh leave

13. Uses
• Arthritis.
• Gout.
• Cancer
• Chronic hepatitis/cirrhosis
• Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
• Familial Mediterranean fever, an inherited disease.

14. Colchicim speciosum as
anti cancer agent

15. Anticancer agent
Because colchicine arrests mitosis
during metaphase, it was thought to be
useful as an anticancer agent.
Immunochemotherapy of multidrug
resistant renal cell carcinoma using a
combination of vinblastine, tamoxifen,
colchicine, and 5-flourouracil
demonstrated an overall response rate of
23.5% with limited toxicity

17. pharmacology
• Colchicine inhibits normal cell division,
specifically by interfering with microtubule
growth and mitosis during cell division. It
also may interfere with the normal function
of cyclic adenosine monophosphate
(cAMP) or the cellular membrane

18. Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
• A controlled, randomized, prospective trial of
26 patients treated with colchicine or
prednisone showed no improvement with
either agent.
• 20 A prospective, nonrandomized study using
colchicine and/or D-penicillamine with
prednisone did not halt progression of
idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
• 21 One retrospective study comparing
colchicine, oxygen, and prednisone with no
therapy demonstrated no differences in
survival

19. Dosing
• Colchicine 1 to 2 mg is a typical oral dose
for gout,
• Colchicine also has been studied for
osteoarthritis of the knee, refractory
constipation, at similar doses.
• Its narrow therapeutic index requires
medical supervision.

21. According to BBC News
• Researchers are poised to start clinical trials
with a new "smart bomb" treatment, derived
from the flower, targeted specifically at
tumours.
• The treatment, called colchicine, was able to
slow the growth of and even completely "kill"
a range of different cancers, in experiments
with mice.
• The research was highlighted at the British
Science Festival in Bradford.

22. According to Department of Life Science,
College of Natural Science, Daejin
University, Kyeonggido, Korea.
• The colchicine derivative CT20126 shows
a novel microtubule-modulating activity
with apoptosis

23. REFERENCES
• www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment
• www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/92234/Colchicum-
speciosum-Album/Details
• http://www.drugs.com/npp/autumn-crocus.html
• www.herbs2000.com