Saffron in the kitchen is most commonly seen as red powder, or still in its dried stigma form. Image from here.

Saffron is a spice used in cooking, medicine and as a dye. Saffron is recognised as the most expensive spice by weight. This is mostly due to the fact that saffron originates from the Saffron Crocus, a flower with red stigmas. There are three stigmas in one flower, and the dried stigmas create what we know as saffron. That is not a lot of saffron per flower, thus making it expensive. There are several cultivars all over the world, each country having its own variety of saffron, Iran being the largest producer.
The Saffron Crocus' themselves require moisture, and do not fare well in shade. They flourish best in Mediterranean maquis climates, although they can survive temperatures as cold as -10° Celsius, and could even survive a short time in the snow.
Saffron, as a spice, can yield many uses, which is why it is so desirable. Medicinally, it is supposedly helpful with depression, mild Alzheimer's, and as a PMS symptom reliever. Culinarily, it has a bitter hay-like fragance, and adds a golden yellow tinge to food. In powder form, it is red, regardless of the fact that it produces a yellow pigment. It is traditionally used in Persian, Arab, Central Asian, Pakistani, Indian, European and Turkish cuisines, and is a prominent spice in Hinduism.

Saffron Crocus

Share on Facebook

Contents for Chilli, Pumpkin, Radish Seed Planting Experiment

1. Phase 1
2. Phase 2
3. Phase 3
4. Phase 4
5. Phase 5
6. Phase 6

5/5/11

After some delay, I have planted the grown seeds in a large container, placed outside. This container had been bought quite some time ago, but after some de-weeding, the earth was in excellent condition. With a slight tearing, I managed to separate the trays into individual little pots. I placed these pots separately into the container. The pots are biodegradable, so the roots will have no problem breaking through the already crumbling pots.
The next and final update will be when the plants are ready for harvest.

Share on Facebook

Contents for Chilli, Pumpkin, Radish Seed Planting Experiment

1. Phase 1
2. Phase 2
3. Phase 3
4. Phase 4
5. Phase 5
6. Phase 6

27/04/11:

All seeds now have tall green stalks, two for the pumpkin compartments. However, behind the glass, the water evaporates almost instantly, and they require daily watering. I sometimes forget this watering, and in consequence, a third of the radishes have dried and died. The other seeds seem very healthy.
In the box, all that seems to be happening is moulding, and no growth is visible, apart from the radishes, whose tiny stems become more withered and pale with every day. I conclude that these seeds need soil.
There is a remaining three days until repotting.

Pumpkin leaves are very hairy in their first few days.

Share on Facebook

Contents for Chilli, Pumpkin, Radish Seed Planting Experiment

1. Phase 1
2. Phase 2
3. Phase 3
4. Phase 4
5. Phase 5
6. Phase 6

15/04/11:
Radishes grew taller, leaves having a large heart shape. I rotate the tray from time to time so that the stems do not always bend in the same direction, towards sunlight. One of the several sunflower seeds has grown two large leaves. The leaves have many hairs on them, giving them a fluffy feel. Chillies now all have thin curving stems. The soil dries out very quickly, and I must water it constantly. The seeds in the box are not fairing well, on the other hand. Two radish leaves have stems and roots buried into the kitchen paper. One of the chilli's has a tiny white stem protruding. The rest, however, have not evolved.

Radish

Pumpkin

Chilli

Box

There are 14 days left until repotting. I think by then that every seed will have strong stems and many leaves. The days have gotten colder and temperatures are now average 20º Celsius.

Share on Facebook

Contents for Chilli, Pumpkin, Radish Seed Planting Experiment

1. Phase 1
2. Phase 2
3. Phase 3
4. Phase 4
5. Phase 5
6. Phase 6

01/04/11:
Checked up on the seeds, no apparent growth on the chillies nor the pumpkins. However, radishes have advanced considerably. Nearly all radish seeds have one millimeter white stem, one seed even having an unfolding leaf. Temperatures always excede 23º Celsius. Do not think seed have grown more than the others because of position, rather because they are just faster.

Will check back on Tuesday for further growth.

Share on Facebook

Contents for Chilli, Pumpkin, Radish Seed Planting Experiment

1. Phase 1
2. Phase 2
3. Phase 3
4. Phase 4
5. Phase 5
6. Phase 6

30/03/11:
Planted seeds into ready made biodegradable pots, in a kit from Ikea. To plant, poured approx. 50 ml of water and waited 10 seconds for water to dissolve dried compressed compost tablets. Placed Capsicum annuum Cayenne (red chili) first, then Curcurbita maxima Mammoth Gold (pumpkin) and lastly Raphanus sativus National (radish).

From left to right: Chilli, Pumpkin, Radish.

From left to right: Chilli, Pumpkin, Radish.

Also placed 4 chilli seeds, 3 pumpkin seeds, and 4 radish seeds into box filled with damp tissue. Spaced out the seeds into rows and placed damp sheet over them. Placed box in warmest room, on window sill (inside), current temperature in room at 2:33 is 17.5º Celsius. Current temperature at 2:33 at window sill is 20.8º Celsius.

31/03/11:

Examined the seeds from the box, no visible growth yet, apart from Chilli Seed 1. This image captured from a microscope with lens 4x, shows a possible advancement. Will know for sure if a stem emerges at the same place in a few days.

Here is a diagram of a common seed structure:

Share on Facebook

My own Dragon Tree, from Ikea

The Dracaena Marginata is one of the most common indoor plants, usually seen in offices and the sort because of it's minimal care. This plant, as the name suggests, is native to Madagascar. It is slow growing, and can last for a long time if properly maintained. The leaves are a deep, glossy green with magenta edges. This plant is also a popular indoor plant because of its excellent air-cleaning aspects. It was one of the plants included in the NASA Clean Air Study, proven to effectively remove Formaldehyde. The NASA Clean Air Study is a study from which the results determined which plants were effective to naturally removing toxins inside buildings. These results helped to neutralize the Sick Building Syndrome, which is a syndrome most office workers and similar people can get from poor indoor air quality. I feel relieved that I won't get any such syndrome with the eight plants scattered about in my room, all of them helping to clean the air I breathe constantly.
The Madagascar Dragon Tree needs bright areas, but shouldn't be in direct sunlight, as this can burn the leaves. When there is low light, the plant will grow slowly. It prefers humidity, but can tolerate dry air, and the soil must just be kept slighty moist in winter, watering a little bit more during the growing season. However, the plant can still survive weeks without water, in case you forget, but surviving is not living, and it won't look it's best if you forget. The leaves easily accumulate dust, so I recommend cleaning them from time to time. These plants could catch Spider Mites, so be careful to maintain it. Spider mites are tiny bugs which feed on various plants, one female laying 20 eggs a day, the female doing this for two weeks or so. In my school, where you could often find them, they were nicknamed 'bloodsuckers', as they are bright red and when squished they form a liquid mush similar to a drop of blood, leading us to believe they fed on humans rather than plants. Nonetheless, they are still considered pests, so look out to make sure none nomnomnom on your Madagascar Dragon Tree.

Share on Facebook

6H₂O + 6CO₂ ----light+chlorophyll----> C₆H₁₂O₆+ 6O₂

Think of it as a recipe. The plant needs all the ingredients to make a cake. The plant needs water and carbon dioxide. Then the plant needs chlorophyll and light, which could be seen as the oven. When the cake is cooked, you get your food, but you are alone and you don't need all that cake, so you cut off what you know you won't eat and you throw that piece out. Someone passes by and takes that piece of cake., i.e. another organism takes the energy not needed by the plant. The formula seen above is merely the recipe written on paper. It means that six molecules of water and six molecules of carbon dioxide plus sunlight and chlorophyll makes one molecule of sugar and six molecules of oxygen.

Plants need to find their ingredients before starting to bake the cake, and they are very well adapted to find and procure their necessary ingredients. The roots take care of sucking up the water in the soil. This water is transported to the leaves through the stem. Photosynthesis occurs in the leaves. The chlorophyll is stored in little pockets within the leaves known as chloroplasts. Chlorophyll is a green pigment (colouring), which is why leaves are green in general. The carbon dioxide needed is taken in from the stoma, which can be characterised as little pores seen on the underside of leaves. The unwanted oxygen is also excreted from the stoma.
Plants are a crucial part of life, they are the only organisms capable of taking energy from the sun to transform it into heat energy, which other organisms steal from plants. Plants also uphold the balance of gases in the air by breathing in carbon dioxide and breathing out oxygen.

References: Animated Image From Millan.Net, http://www.emc.maricopa.edu/faculty/farabee/biobk/biobookps.html, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Leaf_anatomy.svg, http://www.folens.ie/catalog/book_detail.php?bookid=91,

Share on Facebook