Scientific Name
Other Names
Life Form
Family
Ornamental - It is often grown as an ornamental. Food - Bulb are cooked and eaten. Sweet and mealy, they make very fair eating and can be used as a potato substitute. Medicine - The flowers are important as folk medicine for the treatment of abscesses, wound disinfection and blood formation.
Central Europe to South Italy
Temperate biome
Perennial herbaceous height 20-90cm.
Erect, round, and smooth.
Lanceolate, arranged in a whorled pattern around the stem. Up to 10 cm long. Green with smooth or slightly toothed edges.
Hermaphroditic (having both male and female organs) and unscented. Showy and trumpet-shaped, with six upward-facing tepals (modified petals). Outer tepals are slightly narrower than the inner ones. Bright yellow-orange with reddish-brown dots or freckles on the inner tepals.
Elongated capsules containing numerous flat, brown seeds. Mature in fall.
Flowering: June-July.