saffron (crocus sativus l.), the most valuable medicinal food product, belongs to the iridaceae family, which has been widely used as a coloring and flavoring agent. the stigmas contain three major compounds; crocins (carotenoid compound responsible for color), picrocrocin (responsible for taste) and safranal (responsible for odor). it has been used for medicinal purposes, as a spice and condim...

The presence and extent of genetic variation in saffron crocus are still debated, as testified by several contradictory articles providing contrasting results about the monomorphism or less of the species. Remarkably, phenotypic variations have been frequently observed in the field, such variations are usually unstable and can change from one growing season to another. Considering that gene exp...

Tissue culture is useful method for large scale production of healthy corms and also avenues for creating variability through in vitro use of mutagens and polyploidizing agents. Induction of callus and subsequent regeneration of plants is suggested as possible means of introducing new variation. In vitro micropopagation for product formation its utility is increasing the amount of crocin, picro...

BACKGROUND The morbidity and mortality associated with depression are considerable and continue to increase. Depression currently ranks fourth among the major causes of disability worldwide, after lower respiratory infections, prenatal conditions, and HIV/AIDS. Crocus sativus L. is used to treat depression. Many medicinal plants textbooks refer to this indication whereas there is no evidence-ba...

Traditional knowledge can be used as a source for development of new medicines. In the present study, we compare the data on saffron in Razi's Al-Hawi book with modern scientific studies. A computerized search of published articles was performed using MEDLINE, Scopus as well as native references. The search terms used were saffron, Crocus sativus, crocetin, crocin, safranal, Razi, and Al-Hawi. ...

From ancient times, saffron dried stigmas of Crocus sativus L. is widely used as a drug against different human diseases. In the beginning of 1990 ́s scientific literature reported for the first time the antitumor activity of saffron. During the last decade different laboratories of the world (including ours) have accumulated sufficient scientific evidence to suggest that saffron, and its main i...