the smallest physical unit of an element or compound, consisting of one or more like atoms in an element and two or more different atoms in a compound. 2. Chemistry.
The cultivated saffron (saffron crocus C. sativus) flowers in the autumn and comes up every year, so it is known as a perennial plant. It does not grow wild, and is now a triploid form of the eastern Mediterranean plant called Crocus cartwrightianus. It is thought that C. cartwrightianus came from Crete.he cultivated saffron (saffron crocus C. sativus) flowers in the autumn and comes up every year, so it is known as a perennial plant. It does not grow wild, and is now a triploid form of the eastern Mediterranean plant called Crocus cartwrightianus. It is thought that C. cartwrightianus came from Crete.
Saffron, long among the world's most costly spices by weight, is native to Greece or Southwest Asia and was first cultivated in Greece. As a genetically monomorphic clone, it was slowly propagated throughout much of Eurasia and was later brought to parts of North Africa, North America, and Oceania.affron crocus grows to 20â30 cm (8â12 in) and bears up to four flowers, each with three vivid crimson stigmas, which are the distal end of a carpel. The styles and stigmas, called threads, are collected and dried to be used mainly as a seasoning and colouring agent in food.