Plant · P-655

Saffron

Crocus sativus

Saffron is a small autumn-flowering corm grown for the three red threads inside each flower, hand-picked at first light and dried into the world's most expensive spice by weight, since it takes roughly 75,000 blossoms to fill a pound. Those threads flavour and colour paella, bouillabaisse and risotto, and give a traditional yellow dye. The plant needs a hot, dry summer rest to flower well and rots where the ground stays wet, so it does best in a raised bed or a gravelly, well-drained spot rather than an irrigated border. It spreads only if divided by hand, since the corms are sterile and set no seed, so a planting never runs and never needs containing.