Saffron

Home to crocuses still flowering in the garden and the frames.  Crocus sativus aka Saffron Crocus is not known as a wild plant but is very widely cultivated - mostly as a crop.  The long, red style branches, the longest of any crocus, are harvested by the  million for use in cooking, as a dye and in traditional medicine.

Saffron crocus is believed to have been selected from wild plants in the late Bronze Age in Crete.  It takes around 150 flowers to produce 1g of saffron and 90% of the worlds saffron is produced in Iran.

You can read more here (lots of interesting pictures too).