A plant with red or yellow flowers, also known as safflower, whose seeds produce oil and whose petals can be used as a dye.
From Arabic al-'aṣfur through Spanish, literally meaning 'the safflower.' The word traveled through Mediterranean trade routes and entered European languages during the medieval period when the plant was valued for textiles and cosmetics.
Safflower was so prized in medieval times that countries fought over trade routes to get it—it was literally worth its weight in gold for making the most vivid reds and yellows in tapestries and manuscripts!
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