Saffron is obtained from

Concept: In a flower, the pistil (the female reproductive part) has three regions — the stigma at the top, which receives pollen grains; the style, a slender stalk below it; and the ovary at the base, which develops into the fruit after fertilisation (with the ovules inside it becoming seeds).

Application: Saffron is the dried stigma (along with a short part of the style) of the Crocus sativus flower. Each flower produces only three thread-like stigmas, which are hand-picked from the freshly opened bloom and dried — this is why saffron is one of the most expensive spices by weight.

• Leaf: a vegetative, food-making organ of the plant, not part of the flower's reproductive structure, and not harvested for saffron.

• Calyx: the outer whorl of sepals that protects the flower bud; it is discarded, not collected.

• Bud: the unopened flower itself; saffron is picked only after the flower opens, from the reproductive part inside it, not from the unopened bud as a whole.

Cross-check: Botanical and food-standard references (spice-board and food-safety classifications) describe saffron as the dried stigma (and style) of Crocus sativus, confirming the stigma — not the leaf, calyx, or bud — as the source.