Crocus sativus

Botanical classification
Kingdom : Plantae
Family : Iridaceae
Genus : Crocus
Species : Crocus sativus
Scientific Name : Crocus sativus

History :

Cultivation and harvesting of crocus was first documented in the Mediterranean, notably on the island of Crete. Frescos are extant at the Knossos site on Crete[3] as well as from a comparably aged site on Santorini.The first crocus seen in the Netherlands, where Crocus species are not native, were from corms brought back from Constantinople by the Holy Roman Emperor's ambassador to the Sublime Porte, Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, in the 1560s. A few corms were forwarded to Carolus Clusius at the botanical garden in Leiden. By 1620, the approximate date of Ambrosius Bosschaert's painting (illustration, below), new garden varieties had been developed, such as the cream-colored crocus feathered with bronze at the base of the bouquet, similar to varieties still in the market. Bosschaert, working from a preparatory drawing to paint his composed piece, which spans the whole of Spring, exaggerated the crocus so that it passes for a tulip, but its narrow, grasslike leaves give it away.

Chemical con­stituents

Carot­enoids (α- and β-carotene, lycopin and zea­xanthin), its staining capability is mostly caused by crocetine esters; crocetin is a dicarboxylic acid with a carotenoid-like C18 backbone which is formed from carotenoid precursors (diterpene carotenoid). Crocin, a diester of crocin with gentobiose, is the single most important saffron pigment. In the essential oil (max. 1%), several terpene aldehydes and ketones are found. The most abundant constituent is safranal, 2,6,6-trimethyl 1,3-cyclo­hexadiene-1-carbaldehyde (50% and more), 2-hydroxy 4,4,6-trimethyl 2,5-cyclo­hexadien-1-one. Further­more, terpene,pinene, cineol, safranal (4-hydroxy 2,4,4-trimethyl 1-cyclohexene-1-carboxaldehyde ). On de-glucosylation, picrocrocin yields safranal.