Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) is a monocotyledonous herbaceous triploid plant that produces the most expensive spice in the world. Its main constituents, crocin, picrocrocin, and safranal, are responsible for color, taste, and aroma, respectively. The saffron plant produces a red-colored spice that is important in pharmaceutics, cosmetics, perfumery, and textile dye-producing industries. Iran produces almost 90% of the total world production. The saffron market is expected to grow by 12.09% in the forecast period 2020 to 2027. This paper reviews the current knowledge about the taxonomy, geographical distribution, reproductive biology, chemical composition, therapeutic and traditional uses, and agro-technology of the world’s most expensive spice crop, saffron.

藏红花（Crocus sativus L.）是单子叶的草本三倍体植物，生产世界上最昂贵的香料。它的主要成分crocro，picrocrocin和safranal分别负责颜色，味道和香气。藏红花植物产生的红色香料在制药，化妆品，香水和纺织染料生产行业中很重要。伊朗生产了近90％的世界总产量。在2020年至2027年的预测期内，藏红花市场预计将增长12.09％。本文回顾了有关世界上最丰富的分类，地理分布，生殖生物学，化学成分，治疗和传统用途以及农业技术的当前知识。昂贵的香料作物，藏红花。