ADULTERATION OF SAFFRON WIT^H STAMENS OF CROCUS. 
455 
specimen be large, as in tlie one now being described, the whole infused mass 
will rise towards the surface of the water in the manner just mentioned ; but if 
there be only a small admixture of stamens, the genuine saffron will sink to¬ 
wards the bottom of the fluid, and the stamens alone rise and float on its sur¬ 
face. In the former case, the true saffron, being in small quantity, appears to 
be so entangled with the stamens, that it is carried upwards with them. 
Having ascertained that the specimen of saffron was adulterated extensively 
with the stamens of a Crocus, I had an explanation of the cause of the turbid 
appearance of the solution formed by infusing some of it in water, as already 
noticed, and of the nature of the suspended granules. These granules must be 
those of the pollen which had been washed out of the anthers by the water in 
which the stamens had been infused ; and, upon examining them by the micro¬ 
scope, I was able to prove that my opinions were correct. The best way to 
see these granules is to dip a glass rod into the turbid solution formed by mace¬ 
rating the adulterated saffron in water, and then drop the adherent fluid on a 
piece of glass. This is to be covered with another piece of thin glass in the ordi¬ 
nary way, and placed on the stage of the microscope ; the pollen granules will 
then be observed to be perfect globes, of a yellow colour and glistening character. 
Mixed with the pollen a small portion of some angular earthy fragments will 
be also noticed. The proportion of this earthy matter, however, is not great, 
and hence its presence is doubtless accidental, and not an intentional admixture 
with the saffron, as is sometimes the case with sand, etc. 
That the stamens thus used for adulterating saffron were those of the Saffron 
Crocus (Crocus sativus ) I have every reason to believe, from minute examina¬ 
tion of their form and appearance, and from comparison with those of other 
species of crocus ; indeed, there would be no inducement to those by whom such 
an adulteration had been performed to throw the stamens of the saffron crocus 
away, and collect the corresponding parts of other species; it would be far easier 
to pluck the stamens and the parts constituting genuine saffron from the same 
flower at the same time, and mix them together. Moreover, the common 
species of crocus flower in spring, while the saffron crocus flowers in the autumn 
months ; and hence, it would be still less probable that the stamens would be 
gathered from one species at one season and the stigmas from another species 
at a different period, and the two be then mixed together. It is possible cer¬ 
tainly, that the collector of the saffron might have had nothing to do with the 
adulteration, but that the purchaser of the genuine drug had afterwards mixed 
with it the stamens of another species of crocus, but having carefully examined 
the stamens in the present specimen, and compared them at the British Museum 
and Kew with those of the saffron and spring crocus, etc., I think there can be 
no doubt but that both the stigmas and stamens had been gathered at the 
same time and from the same plant, namely, from the Crocus sativus , and then 
mixed by the collector. 
Having now proved that the specimen of saffron under examination was ex¬ 
tensively adulterated, being composed, as nearly as I could ascertain, of about 
one-tliird genuine saffron, and the remaining two-thirds principally of twisted 
stamens, and to a slight extent of parts of the adherent or separated coloured 
divisions of the perianth, and of the tubular portions of the flower, another 
question now arose. The tubular portion of the flower of the saffron crocus, 
in its natural condition, is nearly white, while the anthers are pale yellow ; but 
here the whole of the specimen had a nearly uniform orange-yellow colour. fThis 
is, I think, readily to be explained. The stamens, etc., had been dyed with some 
orange-yellow-coloured solution—probably the whole specimen together—by 
which a nearly uniform deep orange-yellow colour had been given to it. That 
such was the case seems clear from a comparison of the different appearances 
produced on a mass of this saffron directly after its infusion in warm or cold 
