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Show SAIFRON. 3g bably a native of the East, although it is now found wild in England and other temperate countries of Europe. It is. very generally cultivated as an ornament to our garden s, and in some places for the Saffron, which is formed of the dried summits of the pistil. Each flower has one pistil, the summit of which is deeply divided into three slips, which are of a dark orange-red colour, verging to white at the base, and are smoot h and shining. Their smell is pleasant and aromatic, but narcot ic; their taste a fine aromatic bitter, and they immediatel y give a deep yellow colour to the saliva when chewed. The flowers are gathered early in the morning, just before they open ; the summits of the pistils are picked out, very carefully dried by the heat of a stove, and compressed into firm cakes*. The English Saffron ° 3 a ¥ is superior to what is imported from other countries, and may be distinguished by its blades being broade r. On the continent they reckon the Austrian and the French from Gatinois the best. MiG Mn MU) The Spanishis rendered useless by being dipt in oil, with the intention of preserving it. Saffron shoul d be chosen fresh, not aN ae] SAFFRON. CROCUS SATIVUS. Class 11N. Triandria. Essent. Gen. Cuar. Spec. Cuar. tube. Order I. Monogynia. Corolla six-parted, equal: Stigmas convolute. Spathe one-valve, radical: Corolla possessing a very long ee ESCRIPTION. Tue root is a small bulb standing upon a larger, with a multi« tude of fibres growing from the base. Four or five leaves arise fromtheroot, of a dark green, narrow, and grassy, about five or six inches long; from the same root arises a stalk four inches high, sustaining a single flower resembling the Crocus. It has three stamina with yellow anthers, and in the centre a long piss tillum, which at top divides into three cristated fleshy capillae ments of an orange colour, whichis the part used in medicine. HISTORY, The Crocus Sativus* is a bulbous-rooted perennial plant, pro* It is a doubt howthis merit s the title of Sativus, when its propagation is bythe offsets from the root, the seeds hardly ever arriving at perfe ction, unless bysativu s is meant cultivated. above a year old, in close cakes, neithe r dry, nor yet very moist; tough and firm in tearing ; difficultly pulverizable; of a fiery orange-red colour within as well as without; of a strong, acrid, diffusive smell; and capable of colouring a very large proportion of water or alcohol. Saffro n which does not colour the fingers when rubbed between them, orstains them with oil, has little smell or taste, ora mustyor foreign flavour, is too tender, and, if it has a whitish, yellow, or blackish colour, is bad. It is e a * The Saffron in England is chiefly cultivated in Cambridgeshi re, and at a place called from that circum stance Saffron Walden. In the autumn when the flowers appear, they are gathered every morning, 39 andspread upon a table; the stizmata, along with a portion of the style, are then picked, and the rest of the flower thrown away as useless. Thestigmata being thus collected in sufficient quantity are then dried, whichis effected by means of portable kilns, of a peculiar construction, over which ahair cloth is stretehed; and upon this are placed a fewsheets of white paper, on which the stigmata are strewed, about two or three inches thick, and then covered with several sheets of paper, over which is laid a coarse blanket, five or six times folded, or a canvass bag filled with straw; and when the fire has heated the kiln, a board, on whicha weight is put, is placed upon the blanket in order to press the Saffron intoacake. Forthe first hour a pretty strong fireis employed; the Saffronis then found to be formed into @ cake, which, after being tnrned, is subjected for another hour to the same degree of heat: it is then turned a second time, and a more gentle heat is applied for about twenty four hours, or till the cake becomes dry, during which time it is turned everyhalf-hour. |