Two Autumn Crocuses

COMPARISON OF AUTUMN FLOWERING, AUTUMN CROCUSES

Meadow saffron and saffron crocus are both autumn flowering crocus, but of differing families. We get the saffron used in cooking from saffron crocus (crocus sativus), below. 

Note, the colchium has an irregularly shaped corm and the crocus used for saffron has a symmetrically shaped corm. Colchium is a perennial herb with leaves up to 25 cm (10 in) long. The flowers are solitary, 4–7 cm (2–3 in) across, with six tepals and six stamens with orange anthers and three white styles. Crocuses have 3 stamens and 3 styles.

I. Meadow Saffron

     Colchicum autumnale, commonly known as autumn crocus, meadow saffron, or naked ladies, is a toxic autumn-blooming flowering plant that resembles the true crocuses, but is a member of the plant family Colchicaceae, unlike the true crocuses which belong to the family Iridaceae. The name "naked ladies" comes from the fact that the flowers emerge from the ground long before the leaves appear. Despite the vernacular name of "meadow saffron", this plant is not the source of saffron, which is obtained from the saffron crocus, Crocus sativus – and that plant too is sometimes called "autumn crocus".

 Autumn crocus, Meadow saffron, naked lady. Colchicum autumnale,from the Colchicaceae family can be toxic and is the source of colchine used in pharmaceuticals and should never be confused with crocus satvius, the source of the spice, saffron.

COLCHICUM AUTUMNALE Flora von Deutschland, Osterreich und der Schweiz Otto Wilhelm Thome 1885, gera, germany

II. Saffron crocus

Saffron crocus (source of saffron spice)

Crocus sativus  Iridaceae family

Kohler's Medizinal Pflanz

 Franz Eugen Kohler, 1897

Saffron filaments

The stamen of a flower-the part that produces the pollen- consists of a slender stalk. The stamen is composed of a filamentor threadthat supports the anther, which is where the pollen develops. Filament is from the latin word filum, which means, "thread".

Isaiah 35:1

The crocus which was the source of saffron, used as a dye and as a condiment. The saffron flower has a bright orange stigma from which the saffron was obtained. Saffron was present in the Garden of Solomon.

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