SAFFRON. 563 



are produced in longer and looser clusters than those of the 

 Broad-leaved, and the seed-vessels are smaller. Now gen- 

 erally cultivated because of its greater hardiness. 





SAFFRON. Law. 

 Safflower. Carthamus tinctorius. 



A hardy, annual plant, with a smooth, woody stem, two 

 and a half or three feet high ; leaves ovate, spiny ; flowers 

 large, compound, bright orange, or vermilion ; seeds ovate, 

 whitish, or very light brown, a fifth of an inch long, and a 

 tenth of an inch thick. 



Soil and Cultivation. It grows best on soils rather light, 

 and not wet, and the seed should be sown the last of April, 

 or early in May, in drills about two feet apart and an inch 

 deep. When the plants are two inches high, they should be 

 thinned to six inches apart in the rows, and afterwards occa- 

 sionally hoed during the summer, to keep the earth loose, and 

 free the plants from weeds. 



Use. ; ' It is cultivated exclusively for its flowers, from 

 which the coloring-matter of Saffron, or Safflower, is ob- 

 tained. These are collected when fully expanded, and dried 

 on a kiln, under pressure, to form them into cakes, in which 

 state they are sold in the market. It is extensively culti- 

 vated in the Levant and several countries of Europe, particu- 

 larly France, Spain, and Germany, in the latter of which 

 the first gathering of flowers is obtained in the beginning of 

 September ; and others, for six or eight weeks following, as 

 the flowers expand. It flowers somewhat earlier in this coun- 

 try, and seems well adapted to our climate. 



" Though the color of the petals is of a deep orange, they 

 are used for dyeing various shades of red, the yellow matter 

 being easily separated from the other. The flowers of Saffron 



