History of Saffron (2) (Breeding throughout history)

The wild species of saffron flower is probably Cartratianus saffron, which has its roots in Crete or Central Asia;

Thomas and Pallas are other possible sources.

Saffron is now a polyploid organism that is self-incompatible and has sterile male gametes.

This plant has ectopic meiosis and as a result is unable to reproduce independently.

If saffron is a mutant species of Cartratianus, it probably appeared in Crete in the late Bronze Age.

Humans may have bred them with taller stigmas by selecting them.

The saffron obtained in the Assyrian botanical source belongs to the 7th century BC, dates back to the Assyrian Banipal. It has been traded and used for 4 millennia and has been used to treat ninety types of diseases.

The saffron clone spread slowly to most parts of Eurasia, and later reached parts of North Africa, North America, and Oceania.

Some scholars consider the origin and historical place of saffron to be Iran, and some, such as Professor Mohammad Yousingfing, believe that its original place was in Kashmir, India, and from there it was taken to ancient Iran and Greece. But according to Master Brackriti Gubata, saffron first entered Indian Kashmir in the Persian Empire around 500 BC. However, during the Mongol Empire, large quantities of saffron were cultivated in Kashmir from Iran to Kashmir and the Bambur Karwa region in the east of Srinagar.

Iran now has the largest amount of saffron production, which produces about 90% of the annual crop.