About Sandersonia aurantiaca Hook.
Sandersonia is a monotypic (one-species) genus of rhizomatous plants in the Colchicaceae family. Its only species, Sandersonia aurantiaca Hook., is native to South Africa — specifically the Cape Provinces, KwaZulu-Natal, and the Northern Provinces — and Eswatini, which was formerly known as Swaziland. Common names for Sandersonia aurantiaca include Christmas bells, golden lily of the valley, Chinese lantern lily, and Chinese lantern bulb. This species is a trailing perennial that can grow up to 30 inches tall, and produces yellow or orange flowers. The corms of Sandersonia aurantiaca contain the toxic alkaloid colchicine, with colchicine levels comparable to that found in Gloriosa superba, another highly poisonous member of the Colchicaceae family. The Colchicaceae family takes its name from Colchicum autumnale, which is also equally toxic. Sandersonia aurantiaca has caused at least one recorded case of fatal poisoning: an 80-year-old Japanese woman died nine days after eating the plant's corms, after medical providers could not stop the decline in her white blood cell count. This case confirmed that colchicine was the plant's toxic principle, and it marked the first time colchicine had been identified as present in Sandersonia aurantiaca.
