Health Benefits of Saffron. Saffron is a very costly spice, used to flavor and color food. The
spice is actually the dried stigma (tiny threadlike strands) of the Crocus Sativus Linneaus, a member of the iris family. ... It is thought that saffron is the most expensive spice in the world. Pricing : 3100.00 (10 grams), 6200.00 (20 grams), 12400.00 40 grams) (As on date) More details: jkmpic@gmail.com Mob: 09858986794 Ph: 01933-223705
For the first time, Horticulture Department Kashmir is growing climbers of a fresh fruit, Kiwi, in the Valley; the fruit sells 15 times costlier than apple in the market.
After finding the local climatic conditions conducive for the growth of the fruit, the horticulture department has decided to sell five thousand Kiwi plants to the growers in the first phase of the cultivation. The department will start distribution of the plants from coming February.
“Climate of valley is very conducive for the growth of Kiwi and we have already tested the plant in the local environs. The plants have emerged nicely in the soil, bearing fruit in bumper and leaving no problem in ripening,” said Director Horticulture Kashmir, M S Qasba.
Kiwi is originally native of China from where it has spread to New Zealand, which has climatic conditions that are almost in sync with the climatic conditions of the valley. In keeping with the temperate climate of the valley, the experts broached the idea of testing the fruit here, which convinced the experts to go ahead with the mission of producing Kiwi in Valley.
While Kiwi is a perennial plant with broad leaves on its branches, it has a rapid rate of transpiration and requires irrigation frequently for its growth and development. In the months of June and July, Kiwi will require irrigation from 4 to 5 times.
“Due to higher transpiration rate, the Orchards need to be irrigated many a time to avoid loss of growth of the fruit. We have already advised the growers not to grow the fruit in un-irrigated fields,” said the Director, adding that the fruit starts ripening in the month of August and is harvested in October.
After 4th year of its transplantation, Kiwi starts bearing fruit and a full grown plant yields upto 50 kgs. The potato size Kiwi is expected to outshine the valley’s popular fruit apple as it sells at a much higher rate than apple in the market.
“One Kilogram of Kiwi sells in the market from rupees 200 to 300 as compared to apple which sells at the rate of rupees 20 to 40. This in itself attests the fact, how profitable it is to grow the exotic variety of fresh fruit in the valley,” said Qasba .
As the fruit will engender a diversification of fresh fruit, the Horticulture Department is optimistic that its cultivation will be beneficial for the fruit industry.
Tansy is a perennial, herbaceous flowering plant of the aster family, native to temperate Europe and Asia. It has been introduced to other parts of the world, including North America, and in some areas has become invasive.
tree , Almond tree, Peach tree, Pear tree, Amlok tree, Howthorne tree ,Hazel tree, Pican,Chestnut,Hazelnut, Zaitoon tree , Walnut seed and medicinal and herbal plants. More details:Jammu and Kashmir Medicinal Plants Introduction Centre POB 667 GPO Srinagar SGR J&K 190001 Ph: 09858986794/9419966983
Database on Medicinal Plants
“Comprehensive Database on Some Important Medicinal Plants havingCentral Council for research in Ayurvedic Sciences successesfully
and the data have been displayed in the form of an e-portal entitled “Database on MedicinalPlants” . Afore mentioned e-portal is uploaded on webpage http//:www.nmpb-mpdb.nic.in
with the consultation of National Informatics Centre (NIC). Keeping in the mind for all
type of searcher, the information in prepared e-portal regarding authors, title of the article,
book / journal name, publisher, volume, page no., year etc. for all collected references is fed
with user-friendly search option with necessary hyperlinks to guide further.
Nearly 33,700 references are collected pertaining to the 16 selected medicinal plants. Out of
these, approximately 22,000 reprints / abstracts could so far have been collected. Collected
data includes the classical literature from Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy system
of medicine as well as modern literature from various books and journals covering basic and
applied science like Botany, Chemistry, Pharmacology, Pharmacy, etc. and medicine.
The e-portal “Database on Medicinal Plants” will act as a common platform at which
maximum possible published information on a particular medicinal plant can be accessed.
High Trade
Value” a project sponsored by National Medicinal Plants Board, Department of AYUSH
has been executed by
NEW DELHI: When Gurgaon resident Avanti Agarwal (name changed) got married this year, dishes made of white asparagus that she had arranged to be served turned out to be a huge hit.
Kiwi is mostly grown in the mid hills of Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, J & K, Sikkim, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh,Karnataka,Uttarakhand and Kerala. Having been very newly introduced in the country estimates of area and production have not yet become available. Availability of Kiwi fruit planting material at : http://jkmpic.blogspot.com/2016/12/kiwi-fruit-cultivation-in-india.html
"We had a separate stall serving white asparagus because it is healthier and more nutritious than the green one. Everyone loved the salads and soups made from it," said Avanti who is a vice president with a multinational bank and a health freak. She is also a regular at gourmet stores in the National Capital. Avanti is not an exception and this is not something that's reserved for special occasions. The grocery lists of many households these days have exotic products such as hazelnuts, asparagus, basil and kiwi fruit— products that were barely visible in the country a few years ago and now increasingly appealing to the Indian palette.
Consider this: India imported $270,000 worth of shelled hazelnuts in the first four months of this financial year compared with $150,000 in the whole of 2014-15. Similarly, asparagus imports have already crossed $160,000 compared with $400,000 last year. Imports of herbs such as rosemary and basil, the foreign cousin of the desi tulsi plant, have more than doubled to $3.5 million in this period from the whole of 2014-15.
Purchases of exotic fruit, vegetables, oils and other ingredients are increasing, thanks to higher incomes, the opening up of gourmet food stores and the rising number of Indians travelling abroad and bringing new tastes back home. Add to this, cookery shows -- both Indian and foreign – that have exposed the upper middle-class to a range of ingredients and dishes so much that the level of experimentation has gone up dramatically.
Read more at:
//economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/49330788.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
Kerala floods: Helpline numbers, emergency contact details, and how you can help with donations,
Flood Helpline
supplies, medicines
Kerala has been ravaged by unprecedented floods following torrential rains that also triggered landslides, claiming 97 lives since 8 August besides disrupting air, rail and road traffic in several places. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had on 12 August undertook an aerial survey of the floot-hit regions and announced an immediate central assistance of Rs 100 crore to the state for relief works.
The Kerala government has put out appeals for financial donations and essential items for thousands of displaced people, living in relief camps around the state.
Here's how you can help those affected by the Kerala floods:
Contribute through the Chief Minister's Distress Relief Fund (CMDRF)
The chief minister's office released a letter appealing for help to rebuild the lives of people affected by the floods in Kerala. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said, "We have an important task before us, the task of bringing life back to normalcy."
Direct link: https: donation.cmdrf.kerala.gov.in
Donations can be made through cheques or demand drafts (DD), or internet banking. Address for cheques: The Principal Secretary (Finance) Treasurer, Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund, Secretariat, Thiruvananthapuram – 1;
To contribute online -
Account number: 67319948232
Bank: State Bank of India
Branch: City branch, Thiruvananthapuram
IFS Code: SBIN0070028
PAN: AAAGD0584M
Name of Donee: CMDRF
The chief minister's office has also released helpline numbers.
Epilobium parviflorum, commonly known as the hoary willowherb or smallflower hairy willowherb, is a herbaceous perennial plant belonging to the Onagraceae family.
Hurriyat Conference (G) chairman Syed Ali Geelani described him as a visionary leader. “shaheed-e-Azeemat" usually used to remain silent in the company of his fellow leaders, yet his body language would speak louder than his words. He always remained ready to sacrifice even his life for the sacred cause. This he proved on 11th of August 2008 by facing the bullets while leading a march towards Muzzarafabad. The best way to pay tributes to him and others is to remain steadfast on our resolve and take the ongoing movement to its logical end,” a spokesman of the conglomerate quoted Geelani as having said while telephonically addressing a conference organised by Hurriyat at its head office here.
Geelani urged all the units of Hurriyat Conference to kick start a door to door election boycott campaign, the spokesman said, adding that the conference was presided over by the Hurriyat general secretary, Ghulam Nabi Sumji.
“Jinab Sheikh Sahib was a humble soul, a dedicated fighter who remained in the front row of the movement and sacrificed his life for the Kashmir cause.”
Tuesday, August 12, 2008, Chandigarh, India ... Srinagar, August 11. At least four persons, ... while all educational institutions would be closed till August 14.
Salvia officinalis is a perennial, evergreen subshrub, with woody stems, grayish leaves, and blue to purplish flowers. Availability: Seed/plant/leaves/tea Write us at : jkmpic@gmail.com Ph: 09858986794/01933-223705
That means hops contain phytoestrogens—the plant version of estrogen. More specifically, the
In a major success against drug trafficking and possible narco-terrorism, the police on Monday seized 51 kilograms of high-grade Afghan-origin heroin worth over Rs. 250 crore from a Punjab-bound truck here.PTI
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has found that at least five Indian companies engaged in cross-LoC India-Pakistan trade have links to the Hizbul Mujahideen, as per a report in Times of India.
As part of its probe into the alleged transfer of funds from across the border, used to fuel terror networks, the NIA had been investigating close to 300 companies that were engaged in cross-border trade since 2008. The agency found five companies with dubious transaction records, leading it to further probe them.
The report quoted sources that revealed that 'these companies were engaged in barter trade with Pakistan-based individuals/companies, that were under-invoicing the import of California almonds at trade facilitation centres (TFCs) located at Salamabad and Chakkan-da-Bagh in Jammu and Kashmir. The money acquired by under-invoicing the import, NIA believes, could have been used to fund "terror operations."
Representational image. Getty
Earlier this month, Some arms and ammunition were recovered from a truck engaged in cross-LoC trade in Uri sector of north Kashmir's Baramulla district. The weapons were hidden in a camouflaged cavity of the truck designed particularly for illegal smuggling.
After clothes, California almonds have emerged as the new product in cross-LoC trade in Jammu and Kashmir that are being used as a mode of terror funding.
The NIA has registered a case in this connection and had carried out searches on traders at trade facilitation centres at Salamabad in Kashmir region's North Kashmir's Baramulla district and Chakan-da-bagh in Poonch district of Jammu region.
According to the cross-LoC trade agreement between India and Pakistan, products grown in both sides of Jammu and Kashmir will be exchanged under the barter system. The products included the California almonds, that is grown in parts of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. During the searches, documents related to exchange of California almonds were seized and are being scrutinised, the NIA said.
The traders from PoK were sending and receiving California almonds and it is alleged that the money was used for funding of terror groups in the state.
"This is in gross violation of the State policy of prohibition on trade in 'third-party origin goods' through this mechanism and information indicated that these funds are being used for fomenting terrorism and separatism in the state of Jammu and Kashmir," the NIA had said.
Salvia officinalis is a perennial, evergreen subshrub, with woody stems, grayish leaves, and blue to purplish flowers. Availability: Seed/plant/leaves/tea Write us at : jkmpic@gmail.com Ph: 09858986794/01933-223705
Change applauds Herbal display and cuisine development while inaugurating exhibition of herbal ,medicinal products and interaction with herbal innovators in the Institute of Hotel Management Raj Bagh Srinagar ,more than 200 officers ,scholars,scientists,media persons ,advocates ,herbal growers ,women invitees and members of civil society participated in the first ever forest cuisine development session.
When Faizan Ahmed Poswal, 15, sustained bullet injuries in a gunfight between militants and government forces at Thumna village of Pulwama on Friday, he was rushed to District Hospital Pulwama but was declared brought dead by none other than the father Dr Abdul Gani Poswal, a medical officer at the hospital.
Dr Poswal was on duty when he received the body.
The emotions ran high in the hospital when Dr Poswal saw the body of the son but could not save him. He tried hard but it was all over leaving him no option but to declare him dead. He wrapped the body in white cloth and broke down. The doctors, nurses, medical officers all were crying." Funeral prayers were held inside hospital premises which were attended by entire hospital staff and local residents. Dr Poswal lived with his family at residential quarters in the town.
who has been killed by unidentified assassins in Kashmir. But, so far, none of them have been caught
The murder in broad daylight of senior journalist Shujaat Bukhari, editor-in-chief of the English daily Rising Kashmir, has shocked the entire media fraternity in the Valley—and has them wondering whether the killers will ever be brought to justice.Bukhari is not the first journalist who has fallen to the bullets of unidentified assassins in Kashmir. So far, none of the killers has been cuaght and punished.The first media person to be killed in Kashmir was Lassa Koul, director of the local Doordarshan Kendra. Koul was kidnapped and subsequently killed in early 1990.
The Special Operation Group of JK Police claimed to have eliminated the " acting chief" of the pro-Pakistan 'AL-Fatha Force' identified as Mushtaq Ahmad Lone @General Mossa' in an counter with the SOG. Even as none of the militant organisation said anything about the man or the incident, some of the some of the journalists here claimed that Mr. Lone was not a militant but "printer, publisher and editor of vernacular weekly " Wehdat-e-Milli". JK Police have recovered from his person an identity card which described the deceased as "printer, publisher & amp; editor " of the Urdu weekly. More details at: http://writerasia.blogspot.com/2011/08/mushtaq-ahmad-lone-editor-wehdat-e.html
In April 1991, Muhammad Shaban Vakil, editor of the vernacular daily Al-Safa, was killed in his office in Srinagar city.
In September 1995, Mushtaq Ali, a photojournalist with the AFP wire service, was killed in a parcel bomb explosion in the office of Yusuf Jameel, the then BBC correspondent in Kashmir. A burqa-clad woman had delivered the parcel bomb at Jameel's office in Srinagar's Press Enclave.
On January 1, 1997, Altaf Ahmad Faktoo, an anchor of the local Doordarshan Kendra was killed.On March 16, 1997, freelance journalist, Saidan Shafi was killed in Srinagar.
In February 2003, Parvaz Muhammad Sultan, who ran a news agency, was killed in his office, again in Srinagar's Press Enclave.
In March 1996, Sheikh Ghulam rasool Azad, editor of the Urdu-language daily Rehnuma-e-Kashmir and the English-language weekly Saffron Times, was found dead on April 10 floating in Kashmir's Jhelum River. He had written about an increase in killings and arson incidents his hometown, Pampore. Family members say a militia group backed by Indian state security forces had kidnapped him in March.
In 29 August 1994, Ghulam Muhammad Lone and his 4 year old son reportedly killed by ARMED FORCES, in Kangan, Jammu and Kashmir.
In 29 April,2004, Asiya Jeelani, a freelance journalist, was killed in a mine explosion in India-controlled Kashmir, while working with the Coalition of Civil society to prepare a report on its election monitoring activities.
In February 2003, Parvaz Muhammad Sultan, who ran a local news agency, was killed in his office, again in Srinagar's Press Enclave.
The attempts to intimidate and drive out a nomadic community from their village has exposed the horrors faced by Muslims in India, where supporters of Hindu groups continue to be emboldened by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. Moazum Mohammad reports from the Pir Panchal mountains in the Indian-administered Kashmir.
s the sun emerged from a thick cloud over the lush green peaks in Pir Panchal on a recent morning, Naseema removed the blue tarpaulin sheet from the tent they’d been sleeping in. The mountains have been home to her and Mohammad Yusuf Pujawala, her husband, for the last few weeks. The couple, along with dozens of other families from the Bakarwal community, takes a grueling two-day trek to come to these mountains every year from Kathua, a village on the banks of the Khad, about 55 miles from the state’s winter capital of Jammu. This year, they were forced to arrive here earlier.
“This time we came early because of threats from Hindus in our village,” says Pujawala. Nearly 87 percent of Kathua’s population is Hindu, who dominate the businesses and own almost all of the land in the district. Bakarwals, the Muslim nomads who for centuries have traveled with their livestock between the mountain pastures in the summer and lowland grazing grounds in the winter, are the third largest ethnic tribe in the region—about 60,724 people, according to 2011 survey by the Indian government.
On January 10, Naseema and Pujawala’s eight-year-old daughter went missing from a neighboring village. Seven days later, authorities found her body in Rasana, a village in Kathua—she had been raped and murdered. Since then, eight men, including the custodian of a local Hindu temple, have been arrested in the case. (Indian law prohibits identifying a rape victim by name even after they have died.)
The incident has sparked outrage in the region and across the country, especially following protests in support of the detained men, led by outfits like the Hindu Ekta Manch, whose members have ties to both the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as well as the Indian National Congress.
Police in the state of Jammu & Kashmir said the motivation behind the gruesome rape and murder was to terrorize and dislodge the Bakarwals from Kathua, and the man at the center of the conspiracy was Sanji Ram, the custodian of the local temple. Police officials have also said that Ram had been discouraging Hindus in Kathua from providing land to the Bakarwals for grazing their cattle.
“We didn’t know he was living next to us,” Naseema says about the Hindu priest. “If I knew, I wouldn’t have allowed my daughter to go to Rasana.”
Jammu & Kashmir police say the girl had walked to the nearby village that day to inquire about her horses. According to the charge sheet filed by authorities, that’s when the priest’s nephew signaled her to the forests, claiming he had seen her horses. Local investigators said she was then kidnapped, drugged, and held inside the Devisthan temple, where the men took turns and raped her.
“My daughter loved horses, and she would play with them,” Naseema says, pointing to a big stone a few yards away which she said her daughter used to jump on the horseback.
In a 15-page document, investigators describe in sordid detail what happened to the girl in January. The eight-year-old was held without food, given sedatives, and subsequently raped. Minutes before she was murdered, one of the accused men told the priest’s teenage nephew—he is a minor and is being tried under a separate law for minors—to wait so that he could rape her one last time. Then, according to police, the two of them raped the little girl again before strangling her with her scarf and hitting on her head with a stone.
“I can’t believe how brutal they were,” Naseema says. “Hindus would harass and abuse us when our herd would graze on their farmlands, but we never expected they would drug our daughter and rape her.”
When the parents went out looking for the girl on January 10, Naseema said they ran into Ram, the priest, who told them to go back home.“Your daughter is having roti somewhere, and you will find her,” Naseema says he told them that evening.
Mother of the rape victim migrated to the Pir Panchal mountains few weeks ago.
Life has always been filled with hardships for Kashmir’s Bakarwals, but Naseema said this year has been “the toughest and the saddest” because of the tragedy that befell them. “There is no end to the loss,” she says. Three of their children and Pujawala’s mother were killed in a road accident in the mountains eight years ago. After the accident, the family adopted the girl from Pujawala’s sister when she was only two months old.
Pujawala said they had plans to admit their daughter to school this year and were looking forward to seeing her in a uniform. Her family and relatives in the Bakarwal community remember her as talkative—“chirpy like a bird”—and a clever girl who was always happy whenever she went go to the meadows with the animals.
“She loved trekking along these mountains,” Naseema says. “She would sit on a horse and keep watch on the herd.”
The family was supposed to attend the court hearings on their daughter’s rape case in the following days, but Naseema didn’t know if they could make it.
“How can we attend the hearings?” Naseema shouts. “Who is going to look after the herd?”
For generations, Bakarwals have trekked hundreds of miles every year herding and grazing their goats, sheep, cows, and horses. Many of them say their lives would cease to exist without the animals because they are the only source of their livelihood. “For us, these goats and sheep are as dear as our children,” says Pujawala.” “I climb mountains so that our herd doesn’t die from hunger. We may not eat, but will do everything we can to protect them.”
1. Nomad families of the Bakarwal community cross a snow-fed stream in Kashmir. 2. A nomad sits outside his mud house in outskirts of Srinagar.
Pujawala says his community had been tolerating the harassment and intimidation from Hindu villagers in Kathua for years. But in the aftermath of their daughter’s rape, members of the Hindu Ekta Manch have turned hostile towards Muslim families in the village. “We are four to five nomadic families in the village,” Pujawala says, “but the Hindus accused us of occupying their lands and conspired to throw us out.” Pujawala says Hindus in the village also regularly accuse them of “smuggling” cattle—illegally transporting cows for slaughter.
Last year in April, a Bakarwal family that was traveling with their cows was attacked by a mob of Hindu men in Jammu. About 150 men beat the Bakarwals with iron rods and sticks and burned down the local police post. When the police arrested 11 Hindu men involved in the attack, local groups called for a strike to force their release.
The attack was one of the many taking place across the country, as hardline Hindus formed vigilantism groups calling themselves Gau Rakshak—“Cow Protector”—and targeted Muslims and Dalits for possessing beef or transporting cattle for slaughter from one state to another. Reports of attacks on Muslims by cow vigilantism groups have grown since the election of BJP leader Narendra Modi—97 percent of the cow-related attacks from 2010 to 2017 took place after Modi’s election in 2014, according to a content analysis of the English media in India by Indiaspend.
“When Bakarwals go to mountains, they accuse us of smuggling cows.”
Talib Hussain, a Bakarwal lawyer and activist who has been rallying for justice in the Kathua rape and murder case, said members of right-wing Hindu outfits have been attacking Bakarwals during migration between Jammu and Pir Panchal mountains.
“When Bakarwals go to mountains, they accuse us of smuggling cows,” says Hussain, adding that Hindu right-wing groups like Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, or RSS, are systematically harassing and threatening Muslim nomad communities in Kashmir.
Chaudhary Abdul Hamid, a representative of the Bakarwal community, said the Bakarwals and the Gujjars—another ethnic Muslim community—have been living in fear following the rise in violent attacks by Hindu groups. “The Bakarwals receive permission for transporting cows during migration from one place to another, but they are still being targeted by Hindus,” says Chaudhary.
Two years ago, a BJP minister threatened a delegation of Gujjar farmers by reminding them of the 1947 massacre of Muslims in Jammu & Kashmir region. He was also among the two BJP ministers who addressed the Hindu Ekta Manch rally in support of those accused of raping the Kathua girl. Since BJP came to power in the region three years ago, the ministers who oversaw the provincial forest ministry directed to remove encroachments from the forests—a move many nomadic Muslims say was aimed at removing them from the forest land.
For the Bakarwals, who earn their livelihood by selling sheep and goats, shrinking grazing lands and increasing restrictions from Hindu villagers and vigilante groups is adding growing apprehension.
“The forests are being closed for Bakarwals,” said Hussain, the Bakarwal lawyer, who last year led a caravan of livestock to the region’s highest office to demand right to the forest for the nomad community. The BJP has opposed implementing the law to guarantee the rights to members of the region’s tribal community, arguing that the laws enforced by the parliament cannot be extended to the disputed territory.
“Our issue is with grazing rights and right to life, but the RSS and BJP don’t want the law to be applied here because it involves Muslim nomads,” says Hussain, who has pledged not to wear shoes till the law is not implemented in the region.
The Hindu men accused of raping their daughter are still in prison, and their trial is yet to begin. The Hindu Ekta Manch has started a donation campaign to hire the “best” legal team and file a plea in India’s top court for handing the case to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), an agency under the jurisdiction of the BJP government. So far, the court has turned down the plea in previous hearings.
“The crime branch fairly investigated the incident, but the Hindus want to shield the accused men by seeking a CBI investigation,” Pujawala says. “We don’t want that to happen.”
Following the nationwide outrage after a series of rape incidents, including the gang rape of the eight-year-old girl, India’s prime minister Narendra Modi signed an executive order last month introducing the death penalty for anyone found guilty of raping girls below the age of 12. “We want those men who snuffed the life out of a pure soul to be hanged,” Naseema says.
The Bakarwals still have more than five months before their winter migration, when they leave the mountains and head downhill to Kathua. But they are worried about going back to the village. Until now, Pujawala had been using pastures owned by Hindus on lease for grazing his flock. But Bakarwals fear that the Hindus would no longer lease grazing pastures to them even if they were allowed back in the village, especially if the Hindu men are found guilty and sentenced to death.
“I locked my home and abandoned my wheat fields in Kathua out of fear,” Pujawala says. “Usually I would hire a man to take care of fields, but no one was willing to stay on this year.”
After the family retrieved their daughter’s battered body from the village for the funeral, the Bakarwals wanted to bury her in the land they’d purchased a few years ago—and had used it as a graveyard to bury dead people in the past. But Pujawala said a group of Hindu men wielding batons threatened the family and told them they would excavate the girl’s body if she was buried there. So, the Bakarwals walked more than seven miles into another village to bury the girl’s body.
“When they didn’t even let to bury our dead daughter,” Pujawala says, “how can they give us their land to graze animals?”
spice is actually the dried stigma (tiny threadlike strands) of the Crocus Sativus Linneaus, a member of the iris family. ... It is thought that saffron is the most expensive spice in the world.
