And very special crocuses at that; the crocus sativus. Depart from that, and you might be in trouble. And even with the right stuff, administered in too great quantity, you should be warned by Nicholas Culpeper, the famous herbalist (also described as an astrologer-physician) who tells us that, after too heavy doses of a medicinal calibre, "some have fallen into immoderate convulsive laughter, which ended in death." All this arises from a gift given by friends from Saffron Walden in Essex: two packets of the real bulb from which comes the product which is now used mainly in flavouring and colouring foodstuffs. At one time, the plant was cultivated extensively in south-eastern England and that's why the town is so called. Crocus sativus is not now grown commercially there, but obviously some individuals keep up the tradition, for the packets of bulbs come from the Saffron Walden Museum, with a sheet of instructions.
Oddly, it is autumn-flowering. They advise you that squirrels, mice and wireworm find them tasty, so indoors looks the best bet. The corms grow well in a light, well-manured soil, slightly alkaline and are planted five inches deep and five inches apart. Flowering time? Well, sometimes only leaves appear in the first year. And when you do get the flowers, saffron is produced by drying the three long, bright red stigmas. And, you are warned, do not confuse with the poisonous autumn crocus, otherwise known as Meadow saffron or colchicum or naked lady, which has leaves in spring and flowers early in September.
The bit about the 4,320 flowers comes from a thick herbal paperback, A Modern Herbal, by Mrs M. Grieve; that is the number of flowers required to yield one ounce of saffron. It was known to the Greeks and Romans, according to this source, but the best is now imported from Spain; some, too, from France. Persia (Iran), Kashmir and Bombay used also to be known sources.
And don't start messing around with the insides of your normal garden crocus. Just get your saffron from the supermarket, and if you are lucky enough to get some Saffron Walden corms, enjoy their flowers and leave it at that. Imagine dying from "an immoderate convulsive laughter", as Nicholas Culpeper reports.
Y.