The flower style divides while still within the throat of the flower, well below the bases of the anthers. The branches of the stigma are taller than the anthers and about the same length as the petals. The throat of the flower is bearded. The leaves and flowers are produced at the same.[3][clarification needed]
The Latin
specific epithetcartwrightianus refers to the 19th century British Consul to Constantinople, John Cartwright.[4]
C. cartwrightianus is the presumed wild progenitor of the domesticated
triploidCrocus sativus – the
saffron crocus[5][6][7] with a population in
Attica, Greece suggested as the closest known modern population to the saffron ancestors.[8]
It had previously been believed that saffron originated in
Iran,[9] Greece[10] or Mesopotamia.[9]
Habitat
This species is commonly found growing on
limestone soil areas of the Attica Peninsula of Greece.
Cultivation
There is evidence that this plant was cultivated in
ancient Crete at least as early as the
Middle Minoan Period, as exhibited by a mural, the "Saffron Gatherer", illustrating the gathering of crocuses.[11][12] In the 19th century, wild Crocus cartwrightianus was harvested on
Andros in the islands of the
Cyclades, for medicinal purposes and the stigmas for making a pigment called Zafran.[13]