Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 2).djvu/523

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N. 0. IRlDEÆ.

1273

bearded claw, blotched with darker lilac ; beard of the claw of yellow tipped hairs on a white crest ; blade of petals erect, ½in. broad, oblong. Style arms ¾in. long ; crests deltoid, acute. Capsule l-2in., ellipsoid or sub-globose beaked, trigonous, angle obtuse. Don describes the sepals as blood-red, with black-purple spots. (J. D. Hooker.)

Use : — In Chumba, the root and the leaves are given in fever. (Stewart.)

1258. Crocus sativus, Linn., h.f.b.l, vi., 276.

Sans. : — Kunkuma.

Vern. :— Kesar Jáfrán (B.) ; Kesar, záfran (H.) ; Sarfran, keshar, (Bomb.) ; Kungumapu (Tam.) ; Kunkum, apave (Tel.);

Habitat : —Cultivated in Kashmir.^[1] Native of the south of Europe. The best saffron comes to Bombay from Spain. J. D. Hooker has the following note: — " The Kashmir saffron is regarded by Royle as a variety of that cultivated in England, distinguished by the very dark violet-blue flowers, yellow anthers and brick-red stigmas, but this accords exactly with the common form, figured by Bentley and Trimen."

↑ The Crocus sativus is the only plant grown in Kashmir the stigmata of which compose hay saffron. The famous saffron fields are situated in the vicinity of Pampur, on a plain fully 50 feet above the valley. The bulbs grow on soil said to have been specially imported for the purpose. In dry seasons the produce averages nearly a ton quantity. Some 1500 lbs. of saffron are exported yearly from Kashmir to Ladakh. The bulbs are planted out in June, and the stigmata are collected in October. It tinges the saliva yellow. Pereira makes one grain of good saffron to contain the stigmata and styles of nine flowers, so that the formation of an ounce would require 4,320 flowers. The four stations for saffron cultivation, called " Warewas," are flat treeless tablelands, on the borders of the hills, 50 to 150 feet higher than the Kashmir Valley, which is 5,200 feet above the sea-level. They are little, if at all, irrigated. The soil is a stiff clay. Dr. Downes has been informed that saffron has been successfully cultivated in the gardens of the city of Kashmir. He does not think a special soil needed for cultivation of Crocus sativus. In a hopeful experiment of this kind at Alwar, near Delhi, Mr. Landseer started bulb-growing on earth brought in barrels from Kashmir. But in the second year the five beds of bulbs had increased to nine, and as there was no further import of Kashmir, earth, native soil had to be used, and with success. In Kashmir the C. sativus is cultivated on raised parterres, well drained and carefully weeded, though Dr. Downes believes not irrigated. (Ph. J. 9-7 1881 p. 9).

[1] The Crocus sativus is the only plant grown in Kashmir the stigmata of which compose hay saffron. The famous saffron fields are situated in the vicinity of Pampur, on a plain fully 50 feet above the valley. The bulbs grow on soil said to have been specially imported for the purpose. In dry seasons the produce averages nearly a ton quantity. Some 1500 lbs. of saffron are exported yearly from Kashmir to Ladakh. The bulbs are planted out in June, and the stigmata are collected in October. It tinges the saliva yellow. Pereira makes one grain of good saffron to contain the stigmata and styles of nine flowers, so that the formation of an ounce would require 4,320 flowers. The four stations for saffron cultivation, called " Warewas," are flat treeless tablelands, on the borders of the hills, 50 to 150 feet higher than the Kashmir Valley, which is 5,200 feet above the sea-level. They are little, if at all, irrigated. The soil is a stiff clay. Dr. Downes has been informed that saffron has been successfully cultivated in the gardens of the city of Kashmir. He does not think a special soil needed for cultivation of Crocus sativus. In a hopeful experiment of this kind at Alwar, near Delhi, Mr. Landseer started bulb-growing on earth brought in barrels from Kashmir. But in the second year the five beds of bulbs had increased to nine, and as there was no further import of Kashmir, earth, native soil had to be used, and with success. In Kashmir the C. sativus is cultivated on raised parterres, well drained and carefully weeded, though Dr. Downes believes not irrigated. (Ph. J. 9-7 1881 p. 9).

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