Birth flower for October 17
Saffron crocus
Meaning: joy
The spice saffron is the three red stigmas in the center of each flower, picked by hand early in the morning. It takes around 150 flowers to gather a single gram, making it one of the world's most expensive spices. The plant is a sterile triploid that sets no seed and spreads only by corms. In Japan, Taketa in Oita Prefecture is the main grower and is known for blooming the corms indoors without soil.