To my surprise, on ‘Hohe Winde’ summit numerous autumn crocuses bloomed. Autumn crocus, a perennial flowering plant belonging to the genus Colchicum, grows up to a height of 30 cm. The herb bears deep green leaves whose shape resembles tulips, and which emerge from a corm, a plump, tuberous base. The flowers of autumn crocus are pale purple, lavender or white with a length of about 6 cm.
The life cycle of the autumn crocus is both surprising and unusual. Its leaves appear in spring, but it does not bloom then. By summer, the leaves disappear, and the plant goes dormant. In September, long after the leaves have withered, stems without leaves emerge from the ground and soon, cup-shaped solitary flowers resembling large crocuses appear seemingly out of nowhere for several weeks.
My hike ended at Beinwil Abbey (Kloster Beinwil) from where a bus, a train and a streetcar brought me back home. It was already dark when I entered our apartment. What a great day I had!