High RiskMeadow Saffron is a low growing perennial, which flowers in the autumn (August - September). The flowers appear before the leaves. The leaves, which are 75mm - 100 mm tall, grow in clusters and are slender and deep shiny green. The flowers are pinkish or lilac-purple and some white. They are goblet shaped and look like the flowers of a crocus. Each plant produces between 1 and 6 flowers. The fruit are egg shaped green capsules which nestle in the middle of the clumps of leaves. Found in damp meadows and woodlands.
Abdominal pain, salivation, severe diarrhoea, lack of co-ordination and collapse, nausea and vomiting.
Notes:
Also know as the Autumn Crocus. All parts of the plant are poisonous
however poisoning in the spring comes from eating the leaves
and seed vessels and in the late summer and autumn from eating
the flowers.
Few reported cases of poisoning in Britain.