Crocus sativus

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Saffron crocus
A single shell-shaped flower is in sharp centre focus amidst a blurred daytime and overcast garden backdrop of soil, leaves, and leaf litter. Four narrow spine-like green leaves flank the stem of the blossom before curving outward. From the base of the flower emerge two crooked and brilliant crimson rod-like projections pointing down sideways. They are very thin and half the length of the blossom.
Flowers showing crimson stigmas
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Iridaceae
Genus: Crocus
Species:
C. sativus
Binomial name
Crocus sativus
Synonyms[1]
  • Crocus autumnalis Sm. nom. illeg.
  • Crocus officinalis (L.) Honck.
  • Crocus orsinii Parl.
  • Crocus pendulus Stokes
  • Crocus setifolius Stokes
  • Geanthus autumnalis Raf.
  • Safran officinarum Medik.

Crocus sativus, commonly known as saffron crocus or autumn crocus,

trade and use of saffron
have endured for more than 3,500 years and span different cultures, continents, and civilizations.

Common names

The plant is most commonly known as the saffron crocus. The alternative name autumn crocus is also used for species in the Colchicum genus, which are not closely related but strongly resemble the true crocuses; in particular, the superficially similar species Colchicum autumnale is sometimes even referred to as meadow saffron. However, the true crocuses have three stamens and one style supporting three long stigmas, while colchicums have six stamens and three styles; and belong to a different family, Colchicaceae. Colchicums are also toxic, making it particularly crucial to distinguish them from the saffron crocus.[3][4]

Description

Crocus sativus is a perennial herb

bracts, bracteole, and the flowering stalk.[7] It generally blooms with purple flowers in the autumn. Flowers are sterile, have six petals and three red to orange colored stigmas.[8] Leaves are simple, rosulate in arrangement with entire margins.[8]

Plant growing from a developed corm.

Genetics

Saffron crocus is a

triploid with 24 chromosomes (2n = 3x = 24), making the plant sexually sterile due to its inability to pair chromosomes during meiosis.[9] Its most probable ancestor is the wild species Crocus cartwrightianus.[10][11][12][13][14] Although C. thomasii and C. pallasii were still being considered as potential predecessors or genetic contributors,[15][11] these hypotheses have not been successfully verified by chromosome[12] and genome[14]
comparisons.

Domestication

It is thought that the domesticated saffron crocus most likely arose as a result of selective breeding from the wild C. cartwrightianus in the southern portion of mainland Greece.[14] An origin in Western or Central Asia, although often suspected, is not supported by botanical research.[16]

Uses

Main article: Saffron

The

terpenoids) saffron causes among others mood-enhancing effect (including persons with major depressive disorder).[18] Depending on the size of harvested stigmas, the flowers of between 50,000 and 75,000 individual plants are required to produce about 1 pound of saffron;[19] each corm produces only one or two flowers, and each flower produces only three stigmas. Stigmas should be harvested mid-morning when the flowers are fully opened.[20] Saffron crocus can be used as an ornamental.[17]

Cultivation

As a sterile triploid, C. sativus is unknown in the wild and relies upon manual vegetative multiplication for its continued propagation. Because all cultured individuals of this plant are clonal, there is minimal genetic diversity from the single domestication event, making it quite hard to find cultivars with new, potentially beneficial properties, let alone combine them by breeding.[21] Cultivars of saffron are nevertheless produced by a number of means:[22]

  • Clonal selection. Any plant with a desirable mutation is kept and further grown. This is the traditional approach.
  • Mutation breeding. Mutagenesis can be used to cause a wide range of mutations to select from. The traditional clonal process follows.
  • Sexual reproduction. Breeding for desirable features is much easier in fertile plants.
    • Although the plant is not self-fertile, some wild relatives can be successfully cross-pollinated with saffron pollen in vitro and form seeds. This creates fertile diploid plants containing genomic material from C. sativus, allowing new traits to be explored via further cross-pollination.[22]
    • Chromosome doubling could in principle also create a fertile
      hexaploid plant. Such a change may be possible via colchicine.[23]

Corms of saffron crocus should be planted 10 cm (4 in) apart and in a trough 10 cm (4 in) deep. The flower grows best in areas of full sun in well-drained soil with moderate levels of organic content.[24] The corms will multiply after each year, and each corm will last 3–5 years.[20]

Gallery

See also

Topics related to saffron:

References

  1. ^ "The Plant List: A Working List of All Plant Species". Retrieved 23 April 2015.
  2. ^ a b "Crocus sativus". Germplasm Resources Information Network. Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
  3. ^ Bowles, E. A. (1952). A Handbook of Crocus and Colchicum for Gardeners. D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc. p. 154.
  4. ^ "Colchicum autumnale | meadow saffron/RHS Gardening".
  5. ISBN 9783031100000
    .
  6. ^ Mollazadeh, Hamid "Razi's Al-Hawi and saffron (Crocus sativus): a review". Iranian Journal of Basic Medical Sciences, Dec 2015.
  7. ISBN 978-1-57808-427-2
    .
  8. ^ a b "Crocus sativus (Autumn Crocus, Saffron, Saffron Crocus) | North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox". plants.ces.ncsu.edu. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  9. PMID 22131743
  10. PMID 19772674
    .
  11. ^
    PMID 23123733
    .
  12. ^
    PMID 30690735
    .
  13. S2CID 49409790
    .
  14. ^
    doi:10.1101/537688
    .
  15. S2CID 89990377
    .
  16. S2CID 7577712
    .
  17. ^ a b "Crocus sativus - Plant Finder". www.missouribotanicalgarden.org. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  18. PMID 36678554
    .
  19. ISBN 978-0-471-21423-6
    .
  20. ^ a b "Saffron Farming Information Guide". AgriFarming. 8 August 2015.
  21. PMID 26138822
    .
  22. ^
    S2CID 208574298
    .
  23. ^ Aqayef, Yusof; Fathi, Mohammad; Shakib, Ali Mohammad (2007). Investigation of possibility of obtaining hexaploid saffron forms through treatment of plants by colchicine (Report) (in Persian). Agricultural Biotechnology Research Institute of Iran.
  24. ^ "Growing and Harvesting Saffron Crocus". White Flower Farm.

External links

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