Crocus cartwrightianus Herb.
Synonymy
Notes
As recently demonstrated by Schmidt & al. (2019), Crocus cartwrightianus is the parental species of C. sativus, an autotriploid hybrid derived from heterogeneous C. cartwrightianus cytotypes, hence a sterile triploid taxon propagated only as a clonal lineage by corms. It is the source for saffron, the most expensive spice of the world, produced from manually harvested stigmas, thus serving as a cash crop for rural communities as, e.g., in the Kozani area (village of Krokos!).
