Cancamon[edit] The lexicographer Bar Seroshewai considered the Arabic dseru (ﺿﺮﻭ), a tree of Yemen known as kamkam (ﮐﻤﮑﺎﻡ) or kankam (ﮐﻨﮑﺎﻡ), Syriac qazqamun (ܩܙܩܡܘܢ), Greek κάγκαμον, Latin cancamum, mentioned by Dioscorides (De materia medica 1.32) and Pliny (Hist. Nat. 12.44; 12.98).[28][30][31] Cancamon has been held for Balsamodendron kataf,[31] but also as Aleurites laccifera (Euphorbiaceae), Ficus spec. (Artocarpeae), and Butea frondosa (Papilionaceae).[32] Sanskrit kunkuma (कुनकुम) is saffron (Crocus sativus).