Saffron, the most expensive spice in the world is derived from the dry stigmata of the plant Crocus Sativus. The plant is a bulbous, perennial with globular corms, 15-20 cm high. It has 6 to 10 leaves present at anthesis, one to two flowers with a lilac-purple colour with perianth segments of 3.5 – 5 cm and style branches of 2.5 – 3.2 cm. The yellow style is deeply divided into three branches and the stigmata are bright red. Flowers are arising directly from the corms. Flowers have tri-lobed stigma, which along with the style tops yield the saffron of commerce.
 
Indian name for Saffron:
Hindi : Kesar Bengali : Jafran Gujarati : Keshar Kannada : Kumnkuma kesari Kashmiri : Kong Malayalam : Kunkumapoove Marathi : Keshar, Kesara Punjabi : Kesar, Zafran Sanskrit : Keshara, Kunkuma, Aruna, Asra, Asrika Tamil : Kungumapoo Urdu : Zafran
Foreign name for Saffron:
Spanish : Azafran French : Safran German : Safran Swedish : Saffran Arabic : Zafran Dutch : Saffraan Italian : Zafferano Portuguese : Acofrao Russian : Shafran Japanese : Safuran Chinese : Fan Hung-Hua