Take you into the saffron family.

Saffron, as a precious and famous medicinal material, is shrouded in a mysterious atmosphere. But did you know that it can easily bloom in your home? Saffron and its crocus family are actually quite simple to maintain and have gradually appeared in the Chinese flower market in recent years. Try growing these lovely flowers, either to enjoy a small floral carpet or to brew your own saffron tea.

Fresh saffron with three bright red stigmas. The stigmas of other ornamental crocuses are not well developed.

Saffron has only one pistil, split into three in the middle. The dark red stigma at the top is the most useful part, and this is where we eat. The yellow part below is usually discarded.

Saffron: tea cooking, price than gold

Go into a pharmacy, buy a packet of saffron, and you'll receive some red filaments. You may be thinking to yourself,"How does this look like a flower?" In fact, this is only the stigma of the pistil in the flower. In a flower, this is a little valuable to human beings, while saffron provides at most a dozen stigmas per plant a year, which is also the reason why saffron is expensive.

As a precious medicinal material, saffron can activate blood circulation, remove blood stasis, relieve pain and strengthen stomach. It also exudes a strong aroma, described as a "mixture of honey and hay." Nowadays, it is also popular to make tea with these "filaments", which are fragrant and nourishing.

Many people naturally think that saffron is produced in Xizang, but in fact it was only first introduced into China from Xizang, so it is named "Tibet." In fact, saffron originated in the Mediterranean region. The ancient Greeks began artificial cultivation two or three thousand years ago. At present, the best saffron in the world is produced in Iran. Aside from its medicinal use, saffron is also a high-end spice and dye in Europe-at one time, these "filaments" were more expensive than their weight in gold. The tempting yellow color of paella comes from saffron.

Saffron is responsible for the attractive yellow color of paella.

Crocus is a common green plant in Britain.

Favorite of the Crocus family.

Saffron, however, is just what people call this cultivated crop. Scientifically, the official Chinese species of this plant is called "Crocus," and the genus it belongs to is also called Crocus. To avoid confusion, we shall call this species saffron hereinafter.

Saffron is not native to nature, but a triploid variety artificially selected from wild Kale crocus. Because it has been cultivated for too long, people simply separate it from Kale crocus and form a separate species.

Crocus has 90 species, including saffron, all of which are colorful. On the Mediterranean coast, spring and autumn are mild and humid, but summer is hot and rainy, so crocus, native to this area, has a spherical underground stem that stores nutrients and water. In spring and autumn they try to bloom and grow, but in summer their aboveground parts wither and they spend the dry days with bulbs.

Crocus plants can be divided into autumn flowers and spring flowers according to flowering season. Saffron is a type of autumn flower that blooms from September to November. Most of the flowers used in gardening are spring flowers, which prefer cooler temperatures in winter.

1. Crocus bulbs are now easily available online for less than 5 yuan each. Be sure to go to a reliable store in late autumn to buy imported "seed balls", otherwise it is easy to encounter fakes. Autumn flowers and spring flowers are best planted around September to November. Before planting, put the disinfectant "carbendazim" in water, dilute it 1000 times, and soak the bulbs for several hours. You can avoid moldy after planting.

2. After soaking, you can plant it, buy "bulbous plant special soil", first lay a layer of soil, arrange the bulbs, bud point upward. Lay another layer of soil, which should be at least as thick as one more seed ball after it has passed through the seed ball. After planting, water thoroughly.

3. Put the flowerpot in an environment with sufficient sunshine, large temperature difference between day and night, and low temperature (-15℃~-10℃), autumn crocus will bloom in half a month to a month; while spring flowers will wait until spring. During this period, do not dig to check, so as not to hurt the roots. When watering rather dry not wet, can weigh pot, feel very light and then water. Crocus can be cultivated in the open air in most parts of northern China. Even if snow cover, bud will still tenaciously stand out, that moment is really exciting!

4. Soon after the bud emerges, the flowers open in unison. If multiple colored bulbs are planted together, you can enjoy a purple, yellow and white crocus carpet! Florescence will last half a month or so, after all flowers wither, to apply several times phosphorus and potassium compound fertilizer to promote corm growth.

5. After the flowers fall, the leaves need to grow for a while, which is the time for crocus to accumulate nutrients and reproduce globules, and the plants need to be fully exposed to light. In summer, the aboveground part will completely wither, then remove the bulb from the soil (not easy to rot in the soil), you will find that the bulb has more than a few new balls. Spend the summer in a cool, airy shade, and replant in the fall to enjoy the flowers again!

If other crocuses are cultivated, they can only be viewed. But cultivating saffron can also have a good taste. Take off the red stigma, you can make a plate of paella, but also can make a cup of saffron tea.