Narrow-Leaved Rue.
Stem three or four feet high; foliage narrower than that of the preceding, but of the same grayish color, and strong, peculiar odor; the flowers are produced in longer and looser clusters than those of the Broad-leaved, and the seed-vessels are smaller. Now generally cultivated because of its greater hardiness.
SAFFRON. Law.
Safflower. Carthamus tinctorius.
A hardy, annual plant, with a smooth, woody stem, two and a half or three feet high; leaves ovate, spiny; flowers large, compound, bright-orange, or vermilion; seeds ovate, whitish, or very light-brown, a fifth of an inch long, and a tenth of an inch thick.
Soil and Cultivation.—It grows best on soils rather light, and not wet; and the seed should be sown the last of April, or early in May, in drills about two feet apart and an inch deep. When the plants are two inches high, they should be thinned to six inches apart in the rows, and afterwards occasionally hoed during the summer, to keep the earth loose, and free the plants of weeds.
Use.—"It is cultivated exclusively for its flowers, from which the coloring-matter of Saffron, or Safflower, is obtained. These are collected when fully expanded, and dried on a kiln, under pressure, to form them into cakes; in which state they are sold in the market. It is extensively cultivated in the Levant and several countries of Europe, particularly France, Spain, and Germany; in the latter of which, the first gathering of flowers is obtained in the beginning of September; and others, for six or eight weeks following, as the flowers expand. It flowers somewhat earlier in this country, and seems well adapted to our climate.
"Though the color of the petals is of a deep-orange, they are used for dying various shades of red; the yellow matter being easily separated from the other. The flowers of Saffron are employed in Spain and other countries for coloring dishes and confectioneries; and from the seed a fixed oil is obtained, somewhat similar to that of the Sunflower: for which purpose alone, it does not, however, seem deserving of cultivation."
It was formerly much used in medicine in cases of humors and diseased blood.