Attributes, and Species, of Saffron1

chapter ii Attributes, and Species, of Saffron1 After an explanation of the name crocus [saffron] and a description of the plant, we will approach its attributes. An attribute is something which species have in abundance from their stock; thus, Aristotle, Categories (liber predicamentorum). Attributes An attribute is determined firstly by nature: whence the one is called of genuine, the other spurious, or wild. [different kinds of] Secondly by time: for which reason the one is called vernal, the other saffron autumnal. Thirdly by colour: one is dark-coloured, the other is white, golden yellow, and another is of various colours. Fourthly by the flower: this kind has many flowers, that kind has two flowers or one single flower, which can be rather small or rather big. Fifthly by the leaves: the one is broad-leaved, the other narrow-leaved. Genuine saffron includes only two subspecies: one with a purple flower, the other, extremely rare, with a white flower.2 Wild, or rather spurious, saffron instead comprises several subspecies and is distinguished into autumnal and vernal. And the latter is further distinguished into broad-leaved and narrow-leaved. Autumnal The first is characterised by a slightly purple flower. The second by a violet flower. The third, which is called Constantinopolitanus, is characterised by a white flower, which then becomes slightly purple.3 1 Historical sources list wild Crocus species as kinds of saffron, whereas now we would say the opposite: that saffron is a kind of crocus, and would restrict “saffron” for C. sativus. 2 No white-flowered varieties of Crocus sativus are known, so presumably the plant being referred to here is a white form of the closely-related species C. cartwrightianus Herb. This is sometimes offered for sale as “white saffron” by horticultural companies (SF, pers. obs.). 3 We consulted Tony Goode, UK Crocus National Collection holder, to attempt to identify the Crocus species listed by Hertodt. Though lack of detail in many of the descriptions © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2020 | doi:10.1163/9789004435292_006 attributes, and species, of saffron 49 The fourth, called Pyrenaeus, grows with a dark violet flower.4 The fifth, called biflorus, is no different from the common autumnal saffron crocus, except for the fact that it flowers twice; in German this is Saffran der zwenmahl in Jahr blühet [“saffron which flowers twice in the year”].5 Hortus Eystettensis, section III, autumnal plants, p. 5. Broad-Leaved Vernal It comprises the following species 1. Broad-leaved saffron crocus with completely white flowers. Clusius describes it in this way: the first species of broad-leaved saffron crocus has three, and occasionally four leaves, somewhat wide and short, with two white sinews running underneath across their length, among which the flower grows from a membrane. The flower blooms with a short stalk, has six white petals, which become purple in their lowest part near the stalk, and in the middle contains threads with a three- cleft short style.6 The root is bulbous, white, covered with a light bark, and provided with whitish filaments at the bottom. The root of this species, if smeared on the genitals, elicits frequent and thick urine; it dissipates the swellings in dropsical subjects; drags out precludes a positive identification in most cases, there were some exceptions. The name Constantinopolitanus in Hertodt’s list is seen as a synonym of Crocus pulchellus Herb. (Goode, pers. comm., 18/5/2017; Maw, 1886, p. 38 & 316). 4 Crocusnudiflorus Sm., widely distributed in the Pyrenees and long naturalised in UK, being brought here by Knights of St John and others (Goode, pers. comm.; Maw, 1886, p. 38; Black- smith, 2011). It was first hypothesised that C. nudiflorus was introduced to the UK as an alternative source of saffron by Crump (1899), though its stigma is not tripartite like saffron’s, and its fresh flowers and experimentally-dried stigmata are low in aroma compared with those of true saffron (SF, pers. obs). 5 No Crocus species flowers twice in the year, so possibly this observation was of a mixed population of different species. Brian Mathew states in his seminal work on the genus that the name Crocus biflorus Mill. was first used in 1768 in Phillip Miller’s Gardeners Dic- tionary. It covers a vast array of species in the current understanding of the genus. There is one in this group which flowers in autumn, the others are spring flowering. Autumn flowering “biflorus” is Crocus melantherus Bioss. & Orph. ex Maw, a localised species with black anthers. It is not known whether this plant was recognised at the time Crocologia was written [C. melantherus was used for the first time as a scientific name in 1881 in the Gardeners’ Chronicle ii, p. 749, though this species could have been recognised before that] (Goode, pers. comm.). 6 Hertodt uses the word “petals”, as do many modern writers. The correct modern botanical term for these floral parts in Crocus flowers is “tepals” (a word first used in English in 1840 (OED)). See Glossary..

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