!P LAN T-LORE OF SHAKESPEARE 28.7 
Of Europe. 1 This fact led M. Chappellier, of Paris, who has 
for many years studied the history of the plant, to the belief 
that it was a hybrid; but finding that when fertilized with the 
pollen of a Crocus found wild in Greece, and known as C, 
sativus var. Grtscus, it produces seed abundantly, he concludes 
that it is a variety of that species, which it very much re¬ 
sembles, but altered and rendered sterile by cultivation. It is 
not now much cultivated in England, but we have abundant 
authority from Tusser, Gerard, Parkinson, Camden, and many 
other writers, that it was largely cultivated before and after 
Shakespeare’s time, and that the quality of the English Saffron 
was very superior. 2 The importance of the crop is shown by 
its giving its name to Saffron Walden in Essex, 3 and to Saffron 
Hill in London, which “was formerly a part of Ely Gardens ” 
(of which we shall hear again when we come to speak of 
Strawberries), “ and derives its name from the crops of Saffron 
which it bore.”— Cunningham. The plant has in the same 
way given its name to Zaffarano, a village in Sicily, near 
Mount Etna, and to Zafaranboly, “ ville situee pres Inobole en 
Anatolie, au sud-est de Pancienne Heracle'e.”— Chappellier. 
The plant is largely cultivated in many parts of Europe, but 
the chief centres of cultivation are in the arrondissement of 
Pithiviers in France, and the province of Arragon in Spain ; 
and the chief consumers are the Germans. It has also been 
largely cultivated in China for a great many years, and the 
bulbs now imported from China are found to be, in many 
points, superior to the European—“ l’invasion Tartare aurait 
porte le Safran en Chine, et de leur cote les croises 1 ’auraient 
importe en Europe.”— Chappellier. 
I need scarcely say that the parts of the plant that produce 
1 “Saffron is ... a native of Cashmere, . . . and the . . . Saffron 
Crocus and the Hemp plant have followed their (the Aryans) migrations 
together throughout the temperate zone of the globe.”— Birdwood, 
Handbook to the Indian Court , p. 23. 
2 “Our English hony and Safron is better than any that commeth from 
any strange or foregn land.”— Bullein, Government of Health, 1588. 
3 The arms of the borough of Saffron Walden are “ three Saffron flowers 
walled in.” 
