338 
Note  on  Saffron. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
august,  1898. 
otherwise.*  Much  has  been  written  on  the  subject  of  saffron 
regarding  the  testing  of  its  purity,  detection  of  substitutions, 
etc.  The  addition  of  foreign,  inorganic  substances  is  detected  by 
the  U.S. P.  by  incinerating  dry  saffron  and  determining  the 
amount  of  ash.  Recently,  F.  Ranwez8  has  employed  radiography 
to  good  effect  in  some  quantitative  determinations  of  barium  sul- 
phate in  saffron.  As  to  what  is  the  minimum  amount  of  non-fusible 
ash  that  good  saffron  should  yield  has  not  been  determined  satisfac- 
torily. Hart  obtained  5-12  per  cent.;5  Adrian,  7- 14  per  cent.;6  Bar- 
clay, 6-32  per  cent.9  in  dry  saffron.  The  difference  is  due  in  all  prob- 
ability to  the  fact  that  the  amount  of  water  in  the  drug  examined  by 
these  several  investigators  varied.  The  results  of  Kuntze  and  Hil- 
ger10  are  probably  of  greatest  value  in  this  mode  of  examination  : 
They  find  that  pure  saffron  should  not  yield  more  than  8  percent,  of 
ash,  of  which  13-53  per  cent,  contains  phosphoric  acid,  whilst  the 
ash  of  safflower  contains  only  about  2  per  cent.,  and  that  of  the 
flowers  of  calendula,  0-73  per  cent. 
A  microscopical  and  micro-chemical  examination  of  saffron  on  the 
market  is  sufficient  to  determine  the  character  of  the  product. 
The  sample  under  examination  is  either  softened  in  water  or  in  a 
steam  oven  and  examined  preferably  with  a  compound  microscope. 
The  most  striking  thing  is  the  total  difference  in  the  nature  and 
structure  of  the  parts.  On  comparing  crocus  with  the  American 
saffron  and  the  possible  adulterant  or  substitute  calendula,  we  find 
the  following  characteristic  points  of  difference. 
I.  Crocus  consists  of  single  cornucopia-like  stigmas,  or,  at  the 
most,  of  three  united  to  a  stem  (the  style).  On  examining  the 
larger  end  of  the  stigma  we  find  that  it  is  fringed  with  little  hairs 
(papillae);  in  among  the  latter  are  few  or  many  (although  sometimes 
wanting  entirely  in  individual  stigmas)  pollen  grains.  These  pollen 
grains  average  about  40  to  45  mikrons  in  diameter.  They  have  a 
surface  that  is  nearly  smooth,  and  are  beset  with  numerous  fine 
prickles.  Some  of  these  grains  have  germinated  and  show  pollen 
tubes  of  various  lengths. 
II.  Carthamns  consists  of  the  characteristic  tubular  flowers  of  the 
N.  O.  Compositae.    The  flowers  are  perfect  and  the  corolla  tube  is 
••Since  writing  this  article,  Professor  True  shows  {Pharm.  Rev.,  1898,  p.  258} 
that  the  saffron  of  the  West  contains  calendula  florets  and  some  are  loaded 
with  inorganic  substances. 
