CROCUS SATIVUS — SAFFRON CROCUS. 
Class III. TRIANDRIA. Order I. MONOGYNIA. 
Natural Order, IRIDES.— THE CORN-FLAG TRIBE. 
Pig. (a) represents one of the segments of the corolla with a stamen and anther ; (J) the 3-parted stigma which is the officinal saffron. 
Our drawing of this beautiful and interesting Crocus, which affords the well-known Saffron of the shops, 
was taken from specimens obligingly communicated by Mr. Fiske of Walden, in Essex, where it was 
formerly much cultivated for medical use. It is a perennial, bulbous plant, and is supposed to have been 
originally brought from the East, where it first acquired that high reputation in medicine, which it has now 
almost lost in Europe. It is said that the saffron crocus was imported into England in the reign of Edward 
III., and that a Sir Thomas Smith introduced it into the neighbourhood of Walden, where it was probably 
first cultivated. It was, however, grown at an early period in Herefordshire; but it is now confined to a 
very small district in Cambridgeshire, at the foot of the Gogmagog hills. It appears to have been planted 
abundantly near Walden, at the end of the sixteenth and at the beginning of the seventeenth century. It 
migrated gradually into Cambridgeshire between the years 16/ 5 and 1723, where the place of its growth was 
the large tract of ground between Saffron W T alden and Cambridge, in a circuit of about ten miles. At pre- 
sent, however, it is, we believe, but little attended to by the farmer, and is now confined to two or three 
parishes only, of which Stapleford is one. Saffron has long been extensively cultivated in many countries 
on the continent, particularly in France and Spain ; but English Saffron is generally preferred here to that 
which is imported, and may be distinguished by its parts being larger and broader. The bulbs may be 
planted in dry, light soil ; but they succeed best in sand. About the first week in October the flowers 
begin to appear; but the seed are never perfected in this climate. 
The saffron crocus has a roundish bulbous root, as large as a small nutmeg, which is solid, somewhat 
compressed, and covered with a coarse brown reticulated skin. From the bottom of this bulb are sent out 
many long slender fibres, which strike pretty deep into the ground, and are, properly speaking, the true 
roots. Immediately from the upper part of the bulb proceed the flowers on a long slender white tube, 
which together with the leaves are inclosed in a thin membranous sheath, opening on one side. The leaves 
are inclosed in a thin membranous sheath, opening on one side. The leaves are numerous, curved, linear, 
smooth, longer than the corolla, of a deep green colour, with a white central stripe, and are accompanied by 
the flowers. The corolla is large, and divided into six nearly elliptical segments, equal, and of a rich violet, 
or lilac colour. The stamens are shorter than the corolla, and surmounted by arrow-shaped, erect, pale 
yellow anthers. At the bottom of the tube is situated a roundish germen, crowned with the style, which is 
thread-shaped, the length of the corolla, and hangs out at one side between the segments. The stigma is 
deeply 3-parted, of a deep orange colour, fragrant, narrow, a little dilated upwards, and notched at the 
summit. 
Distinctive Characters. — Saffron differs from the spring crocus (C. vernus ) in having the stigma 
divided into three very long narrow' segments, which are notched at the summit, of a deep orange colour, 
and fragrant. In the spring crocus the stigma is within the flower, divided into three wedge-shaped jagged 
lobes, which are inodorous, and the tube of the corolla is hairy at the mouth : while in the officinal species 
the throat of the corolla is smooth. The naked-flowering crocus (C. nudiflorus) is readily distinguished from 
the other two by the deeply-laciniated tufted segments of the stigma, and by the flowers, which are of a 
deep purple, appearing in autumn unaccompanied by leaves ; the latter not being produced till December. 
Saffron is unquestionably a native of Greece and Asia Minor, having been introduced into the south of 
Europe for cultivation as a medicinal plant ; but it has naturalized itself in some parts of England, and is 
retained by Smith in the English Flora, on the authority of the Rev. Mr. Wood, who found it about Halifax, 
and of Mr. Whatley, who observed it near Derby. Of the genus, Miller admits only two species, the au- 
tumnal saffron, C. sativus and the spring crocus, C. vernus. Sir J. E. Smith describes three species as na- 
tives of Britain, C. vernus, nudiflorus and sativus; of the former there are several varieties, blue and purple, 
yellow, white, and striped. Linnaeus reduces all the species to one, and supposes the A r ernal, and the au- 
tumnal, or officinal crocus, to be only varieties, notwithstanding the difference in the form of their stigmas, 
leaves, and bulbs, as well as in the time of their flowering. Besides these, the following species are culti- 
vated in crocus beds; C. versicolor, or partly-coloured crocus, a kind which requires a light loam, while 
most of the others grow best in sand ; C. biflorus, or yellow-bottomed ; C. mcesiacus, or great yellow ; C. 
