Safflower, Carthamus tinctorius, is a highly branched, herbaceous, thistle-like annual plant in the family Asteraceae.
Plants are 30 to 150cm tall with globular flower heads having yellow, orange, or red flowers.
Safflower is native to arid environments having seasonal rain. It grows a deep taproot which enables it to thrive in such environments.
Is one of humanity's oldest crops. It was first cultivated in Mesopotamia, with archaeological traces possibly dating as early as 2500 BC.
The botanical term carthamus comes from the Arabic word "kurthum" meaning "dye", because the flowers of the plant were used to dye cloth.
Its name in Greek is atraktylida, but it is also found as knikos.Its flowers sometimes replace the precious saffron and are used in mixtures of different spices.
It has medicinal properties that are exploited mainly from alternative medicine.