Topic summary
Saffron crocus
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Crocus sativus.
Genetics
Saffron crocus is a triploid with 24 chromosomes (2n = 3x = 24), making the plant sexually sterile due to its inability to pair chromosomes during meiosis. Its most probable ancestor is the wild species Crocus cartwrightianus. Although C. thomasii and C. pallasii were still being considered as potential predecessors or genetic contributors, these hypotheses have not been successfully verified by chromosome and genome comparisons.