SAFFRON

The common Crocus Sativus, a small bluish flower, whose yellow, thread-like stigmata yield an agreeable aromatic odor; and also the Indian saffron, So 4:14. In the East these were used in making a highly valued perfume, and also as a condiment and a stimulating medicine.

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Saffron. Saffron
Heb. karkom, Arab. zafran (i.e., “yellow”), mentioned only in Cant. 4:13, 14; the Crocus sativus. Many species of the crocus are found in Palestine. The pistils and stigmata, from the centre of its flowers, are pressed into “saffron cakes,” common in the East. “We found,” says Tristram, “saffron a very useful condiment in travelling cookery, a very small pinch of it giving not only a rich yellow colour but an agreable flavour to a dish of rice or to an insipid stew.”

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saffron. Saffron, n. a physical plant; a. like saffron, yellow

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Saf″fron (?; 277), n. [[OE. saffran, F. safran; cf. It. zafferano, Sp. azafran, Pg. açafrão; all fr. Ar. & Per. za' farān.]] 1. 1. (Bot.) A bulbous iridaceous plant (Crocus sativus) having blue flowers with large yellow stigmas. See Crocus.
2. 2. The aromatic, pungent, dried stigmas, usually with part of the stile, of the Crocus sativus. Saffron is used in cookery, and in coloring confectionery, liquors, varnishes, etc., and was formerly much used in medicine.
3. 3. An orange or deep yellow color, like that of the stigmas of the Crocus sativus.
Bastard saffron, Dyer's saffron. (Bot.) See Safflower. — Meadow saffron (Bot.), a bulbous plant (Colchichum autumnale) of Europe, resembling saffron. — Saffron wood (Bot.), the yellowish wood of a South African tree (Elæodendron croceum); also, the tree itself. — Saffron yellow, a shade of yellow like that obtained from the stigmas of the true saffron (Crocus sativus).