Photo: Amitai Asif

It emerges in fall

Flowers preceding leaves

To mark the last

Breath of summer

And the bounty that winter

Will soon retrieve.

Colchicum stevenii grows in the Mediterranean region and throughout Israel, blooming between October and December. Its name in Hebrew “Sitvanit Ha’Yore” literally means “Fall flower of first rains.” Flowers range from 1-2 inches (2-5 centimeters), with petals shaped from straight ruler-like petals to egg-like. Petals’ hues can be lilac or pink to almost white. The bulb contain colchicine, a toxic/poisonous material that is used in medicine to treat arterial diseases and gout.

For Cee’s Flower of the Day