Saffron

Pharmacognosy of saffron

1. Saffron
Crocus sativus
Y.Narayudu, M.Pharmacy
Pydah college of Pharmacy

3. Synonyms: Saffron, hay saffron, kesar
Biological source: dried stigmas and
upper parts of styles of Crocus Sativus
Family: Iridaceae
Geographical source: India (Kashmir),
Spain, France, Greece

4. Cultivation and collection:
Plant the corms 6 in. apart and 3 in. deep in rich, well-
drained soil
Saffron corms like a well drained soil. Heavy clay soil must
be avoided.
The ideal type of ground is a neutral clay-calcareous or
silty soil (PH 6 to 8).
The saffron bed must be in a sunny place, notably in
autumn during the flowering stage.

5. Soil preparation:
•In order to prepare the ground, you can either
turn the soil over or plough deeply (about 20 cm)
and add some compost or manure.
•Keep the ground weed free until planting (from
June to September) and make loosen the soil
before planting the corms.

7. Saffron corms can either be planted directly into
the ground (borders, gardens, fields etc…) or in
pots or window boxes (inside or out).
 
Put the corms into the ground at a 10 to 15 cm
depth leaving a 10 cm gap between them.
 Watering is not necessary. In case of severe
drought in September, watering them once will
usually be enough.
 
Corms multiply from one year to the next, from one
corm one can get 5 corms after 3 years.

8. Harvesting:
Flowers generally appear in
October (slightly later in the
first year) and last for a
month.
 
Two methods of harvesting are
possible:
 
If one only has a small number
of flowers, one can leave the
flower and just extract the 3
red filaments from the pistil
with some tweezers. This
operation is called trimming
 

9. In the case of large quantities of flowers, one
should pick the flowers as soon as they have
bloomed and then extract the red pistils
comfortably sitting around a table.
 
To trim, one can use one's nails or small tools like
scissors or tweezers. Trimming the flowers must
be done soon after they are harvested to make
the task easier.
 
The yellow stamens and purple petals have no use.

14. Filaments have to be dried out to be preserved for use.
Drying can be done by putting the pistils on a sieve in a well
ventilated place between 40 to 60 degrees Celsius, for 15
minutes
When dried, filaments are very light and breakable.
Fresh saffron, even dried is tasteless. It is recommended
that it is placed in an airtight tin away from the light for at
least a month before consumption. Saffron keeps its taste
for two years.  

15. Vegetation cycle
Planting: from June to mid-September
 
Flowering: throughout October month, from the year it
is planted (for big corms)
 
Vegetative development in winter.
 
Leaves dry out in May.
About 150 flowers are needed to make one gram of dried
saffron.
The first year of plantation around 60% of corms will
produce one flower each.
The next two years, corms will give about 2 flowers each

16. Macroscopy:
Color - stigma dark red to reddish brown.
Style is yellowish brown to yellowish orange.
Odor - strong, characteristic, and aromatic.
Taste - characteristic and bitter
Size- stigmas are 25-mm long, and styles are about
10-mm long.
Shape - stigma trifid and styles cylindrical

17. Chemical constituents:
• Crocin & Crocetin -responsible for
the color
•picrocrocin- responsible for the bitter
taste
•safranal- responsible for odour and
aroma
•Traces of volatile oil

18. Protocrocin (carotenoid glycoside),
spilts during drying into 2 molecules of
picrocrocin & 1 molecule of Crocin
Crocin on hydrolysis gives crocetin and
gentiobiose
Picrocrocin gives glucose & safranal

20. Chemical tests:
1.Add a drop of sulphuric acid to dry
stigma, it turns blue, gradually to
purple, and finally purplish red
2.Saffron imparts yellowish orange
brown colour to water

21. Uses:
1.Colouring agent (food dye)
2.Flavouring agent
3.Anti-spasmodic
4.stimulant

22. Substituents & Adulterants
1.Florets of safflower (Carthamus
tinctorius, F:Compositae), which is in
orange colour. It imparts orange colour
to alcohol, but no colour with authentic
drug
2.The weight of the drug is increased by
addition of glycerine & ammonium
nitrate, detected by determining
water-soluble extractive(authentic
drug 50-60% extractives to cold
water)