The history of saffron growing reaches back more than 3,000 years. The wild plant from which the saffron crocus came was called "Crocus cartwrightianus". Humans began choosing wild plants that had long "stigmas". Gradually, a form of "C. cartwrightianus", "C. sativus", came into being in the late Bronze Age Crete. Experts believe that the first document to mention saffron is a 7th century BC Assyrian book about botany which was written in the time of Ashurbanipal. There is evidence for the use of saffron in the treatment of about 90 illnesses during the past 4,000 years.