Flowers white to deep violet with darker violet stripes in the throat or throughout the petal inner surface whilst in the centre sit chrome yellow anthers and a long deep red three-branched stigma. The striking colours are further enhanced by a strong fragrance of saffron. It is one of the very few species whose flowers don’t close at night. Last researches on genetic level confirmed that just Crocus cartwrightianus is the ancient parent of C. sativus.