GG4: 



IRIDACEvE. 



Crocus of the gardens, but blossoming in the autumn. It has an elegant 

 purple flower, with a large orange-red stigma, the three pendulous 

 divisions of which are protruded beyond the perianth. 



^ The Saffron Crocus is supposed to be indigenous to Greece, Asia 

 Minor, and perhaps Persia, but it has been so long under cultivation in 

 the East that its primitive home is somewhat doubtful.^ 



History — Saffron, either as a medicine, condiment, perfume, or dye 

 has been highly prized by mankind from a remote period, and has 



m 



Hebrew 



Hippocrates 



of the word Crocus, the plant is alluded to by Solomon ; ^ and as KpoVoy, 

 T.„ TT^,...^ xx; x„„ Theophrastus, and Theocritus. Virgil and 



(Jolumelia mention the saffron of Mount Tmolus ; the latter also names 

 that of Corycus in Cilicia, and of Sicily, both which localities are 

 alluded to as celebrated for the drug by Dioscorides and Pliny. 



Saffron was an article of traffic on the Red Sea in the first century ; 

 and the author of the Periplus remarks that K/>o/co? is exported from 

 Egypt to Southern Arabia, and from Barygaza in the gulf of Cam- 

 bay.' It was well known under the name kunkuma to the earlier 

 Hindu writers. 



It was cultivated at Derbend and Ispahan in Persia, and in Traas- 

 oxama m the 10th century,* whence it is not improbable the plant was 

 carried to China, for according to the Chinese it came thither from tlie 



country of the Mahomed 



-/ 



dynasty (a.d. 1280-1368) 



Chinese writers have recorded that 



mix 



There is evidence to show that saffron was a cultivated production 



op 



7tl 



As to J^ ranee, Italy, and Germany, it is commonly said that the saffron 

 crocus was mtrodued into these countries by the Crusaders. Porchaires, 

 a French nobleman, is stated to have brought some bulbs to Avignon 

 towards^ the end of the 14th century, and to have commenced the 



existed 



ecent 



times.^ About the same time, the growing of saffron is said to have 



been introduced by the same person into the district of G^tinais "-''' 

 01 raris.'^ At thnf n^n'r^ri cnflv^ — , e j.-l .i.,„j.,- — c. r.v n 



particularly related. 



Cyprns/ 

 LusigTiaii; 



During the middle ages, the saffron cultivated at San Gemignano in 

 J. uscany was an important article of exportation to Genoa.' That ot 



Chappelher has pointed out that 

 t^ocm sattvus L. is unknown in a wild 

 state and that it hardly ever produces seed 

 ZZ^\T°^ ^artificially fertilfzed ■ and has 

 Slffr?? T »^^.'^ ^^^^ *^^t it is probal>ly a 



3 ^anUcks, ch. iv. 14. 

 (1857^52"' "^"'^""''^ Altenhnmsl-unde, iii. 



^eographie, trad, par Jaubert, 168. 192. 



5 Bretschneider, Chinese Botanical Wods, 



Foochow, 1870. 15. , j rn),n(t 



«Ze Calemlrier de Cordoue de Imw 



9C1, Leyde, 1873. 33. 109. , „ . „ 

 7 Conmd et Waldmann, TraiM du Sa/i n^^ 



du Gdtinais, Paris, 1846. (23 pages,-" 

 '^%:n^o, Hi., de Vile de Cl.pre, 



"'■« filfurauclot, Foires de la f/'^Q';^'. 

 Mem. de I'Acad. des inscnpt. et De 

 leth-es de I'Institut, v. (18C5) 2hO. 



