Iranian Saffron is believed to be native to the Mediterranean, Asia Minor, and Iran, although Spain, France, and Italy are also now primary cultivators of the spice. The spice we think of when we hear “saffron” is actually only a small part of the plant itself. Saffron (Crocus sativus) is a purple flower. What we use for that distinctive yellow color, sweet-herb smell, and bitter taste is actually the stigma (plural stigmata)—the pollen-germinating part—at the end of the red pistil, the female sex organ of the plant.