Crocus sativus · PhytoNexus

01 Identity and provenance

Accepted binomial: Crocus sativus
Common names: Saffron
Family (APG IV): Iridaceae
Part used: Stigma
Verification tier: Tier 2 · Verified Clinical columns reviewed and a source is on record.
Reviewer note (2026 audit): PMC4274822 (barcoding melting curve authentication of saffron adulterants) | Hasheminasab FS et al. Health Sci Rep 2026 (systematic review of adverse events) | VERIFIED 2026 (batch 7) - synthetic analogue, application, interactions, side effects and references populated from retrieved primary/regulatory sources. Interactions labelled CLINICAL vs THEORETICAL. Marketed-formulation column intentionally blank. | IDENTITY

02 Constituent chemistry

Chemical class	Marker compound	Synthetic analogue in use
Apocarotenoids	Crocin, Safranal, Picrocrocin Stigma	No analogue. Crocin, crocetin, picrocrocin and safranal are apocarotenoids; studied against SSRIs in depression trials but not structurally related.

The analogue column is what makes the interaction reasoning tractable: where a constituent has a marketed structural counterpart, the counterpart's interaction profile is the starting hypothesis for the plant.

Looking up structures and physicochemical properties from PubChem…

03 Stated application

Reported activity: Culinary spice and colouring; studied for depression, and effective clinical doses are well below toxic ones, so the therapeutic index is wide at legitimate doses.
Reported adverse effects: TWO SEPARATE ISSUES, AND THE ADULTERATION ONE MATTERS MORE. (1) DOSE: culinary amounts are non-toxic, but an ABORTIFACIENT DOSE OF ABOUT 10 G and a LETHAL DOSE OF ABOUT 20 G are described in the literature - relevant because saffron is used traditionally as an emmenagogue. Teratogenic effects and organ toxicity reported at high subacute doses. Rhinoconjunctivitis and bronchial reactions occur in handlers. (2) ADULTERATION: saffron is the world’s most expensive spice and among the most adulterated. DOCUMENTED ADULTERANTS INCLUDE THREE SPECIES ALREADY IN THIS DATABASE - Carthamus tinctorius (safflower, entry 281), Calendula officinalis (entry 64) and Curcuma longa (turmeric, entry 5) - plus Hemerocallis petals, Daucus carota root, Zea mays and Nelumbo nucifera stigmas. A sample labelled saffron may therefore carry the pharmacology of an entirely different row in this table. DNA barcoding (trnH-psbA melting curve) discriminates the common adulterants.

04 Interaction matrix

Source column, verbatim: THEORETICAL: additive serotonergic effect with antidepressants; possible antiplatelet activity. Not well characterised clinically.
Normalised onto 2 canonical drug classes below.

Curated from the reviewed source

Drug class	Severity	Mechanism type	Provenance	Expected effect
Antidepressants (SSRI, SNRI, TCA) CNS	4Contraindicated	PD-additive serotonergic + PK-CYP2D6	curated A	Serotonin syndrome (agitation, clonus, hyperthermia, autonomic instabilit…	why ▾
Class mechanism. Hypericin- and hyperforin-type constituents inhibit monoamine reuptake and induce CYP3A4/2C19 and P-glycoprotein; others inhibit CYP2D6, raising tricyclic and SSRI concentrations. Expected Serotonin syndrome (agitation, clonus, hyperthermia, autonomic instability) or loss of antidepressant effect on withdrawal of an inducer. Management Screen for serotonergic burden before adding. Taper rather than stop abruptly. Consider therapeutic drug monitoring for tricyclics. Onset rapid Evidence A - human data with a cited source Matched on “antidepressants” Find evidence for this pair Map this mechanism
Antiplatelet agents Haemostasis	4Contraindicated	PD-additive	curated A	Prolonged bleeding time, surgical and post-procedural bleeding, bruising,…	why ▾
Class mechanism. Organosulfur compounds, gingerols, salicylates, ginkgolides and eugenol inhibit thromboxane A2 synthesis, platelet aggregation and PAF-mediated activation, duplicating the pharmacology of aspirin and P2Y12 blockers. Expected Prolonged bleeding time, surgical and post-procedural bleeding, bruising, haematuria. Management Stop the botanical 7-14 days before elective surgery or neuraxial anaesthesia. Record it on the pre-operative medicines list. Onset rapid Evidence A - human data with a cited source Matched on “antiplatelet” Find evidence for this pair Map this mechanism

05 Hazard register

substitution - Among the most adulterated spices; documented adu

06 Confusable material

No same-genus or shared-common-name entry in the corpus.

07 Mechanism map

Chemistry sorts to the left, pharmacology to the right. Dashed edges are predicted. Drag nodes, scroll to zoom, export at 3× for a figure.

species

chemical class

marker compound

drug class

expected effect

hazard

08 Open literature

Abstract-scoped query built from this binomial, its common names and its marker compounds, run live against Europe PMC, PubMed and OpenAlex, then ranked locally against an evidence hierarchy.

Checking openFDA spontaneous reports…

09 Isomechanistic neighbours

Species whose interaction profile overlaps this one, ranked by shared severity weight rather than by count — a shared contraindication counts for more than a shared minor signal. Practical use: these are the plants you should not stack with this one, because the mechanisms summate.

Species	Family	Shared classes	Jaccard
Hypericum perforatum St. John's Wort	Hypericaceae	2	0.18
Vinca minor Lesser Periwinkle	Apocynaceae	2	0.25
Uncaria tomentosa Cat's Claw	Rubiaceae	2	0.17
Garcinia indica Kokum	Clusiaceae	2	0.25
Anamirta cocculus Fish Berry	Menispermaceae	1	0.14
Gaultheria fragrantissima Wintergreen	Ericaceae	1	0.25

10 References and notes

Source column: Bathaie SZ & Mousavi SZ (saffron phytochemicals and toxicity), PMC3731881 (abortifacient 10 g / lethal 20 g)

Bathaie SZ & Mousavi SZ (saffron phytochemicals and toxicity), PMC3731881 (abortifacient 10 g / lethal 20 g)

Bathaie SZ manual

BibTeX for all 1 records

@article{BathaieSZ,
  title = {Bathaie SZ & Mousavi SZ (saffron phytochemicals and toxicity), PMC3731881 (abortifacient 10 g / lethal 20 g)},
  author = {Bathaie SZ},
}

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