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Dendranthema x grandiflorum

Common name:	Chrysanthemum	Family:	Compositae
Author:	(Ramat.)Kitam.	Botanical references:	200
Synonyms:	Dendranthema x morifolium (Tzvelev.), Chrysanthemum x morifolium (Ramat.), Chrysanthemum sinense
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	A hybrid of garden origin.
Habitat:	Not known in a truly wild situation.
Edibility Rating (1-5):	2	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	3

Other Possible Synonyms:	From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below.
	Anthemis grandiflorum[G] Anthemis stipulacea[G] Chrysanthemum indicum x sinense[H] Chrysanthemum morifolium[B] Chrysanthemum stipulaceum[G] D. morifolium[B] Matricaria morifolia[G]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Chii Hua [E], Chu Hua [E], Chu Hua Chiu [E], Florist`s Chrysanthemum [P],
Epithets:	From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets
	florum = flowered grandiflorum = large flowered
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Asterales. Renamed to Asteraceae -- Aster family
Other Range Info:	From the Ethnobotany Database
	China

Physical Characteristics

Perennial growing to 1.5m. It is hardy to zone 4. It is in flower from August to October. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Insects. We rate it 2/5 for edibility and 3/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It requires moist soil.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Cultivated Beds.

Edible Uses

Flowers Leaves Tea.

The flower heads or petals[46, 116, 179] are parboiled and served as a salad with tofu and seasoned with vinegar or soya sauce[183]. They can also be prepared as tempura, pickled, dried or added to soups[183]. The petals contain about 1.9% protein, 0.9% fat, 5.3% carbohydrate, 0.7% ash[179].
Leaves - cooked[46, 105, 179]. Used as fritters, they are aromatic[183]. Some varieties have been selected for their low bitterness[116].
An aromatic tea is made from the leaves[183].
A tangy aromatic tea is made from the flowers or flower petals[179]. For a sweeter tea only the petals are used[183].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

Antibacterial Antifungal Carminative Depurative Diaphoretic Febrifuge Ophthalmic Refrigerant Sedative.

Chrysanthemum flowers, known in China as Ju Hua, are a bitter aromatic herb that has been used for thousands of years in Chinese medicine[238, 254]. The flower heads are drunk as a refreshing tisane and are used to improve vision, soothe sore eyes, relieve headaches, counter infections etc[254].
They are antibacterial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, carminative, depurative, diaphoretic, febrifuge, ophthalmic, refrigerant and sedative[116, 147, 176, 218, 238]. Taken internally they dilate the coronary artery, thus increasing the flow of blood to the heart, and so are used in the treatment of hypertension, coronary heart diseases and angina[238]. The flowers are harvested when fully open in the autumn and are dried for later use[238]. In China they are steamed before being dried to make them less bitter[238].
The leaf juice is smeared onto wounds[218].

We have a more details factsheet on the history and medicinal use of this plant. Email webmaster@pfaf.org for details.

Other Uses

Pollution.

Plants have been grown indoors in pots in order to help remove toxins from the atmosphere. It is especially good at removing chemical vapours, especially formaldehyde, benzene and ammonia[259].

Cultivation details

Succeeds in most well-drained fertile soils in a sunny position[1, 200].
This species is not fully hardy in Britain, many of its cultivars requiring greenhouse protection in the colder areas of the country[1].
The chrysanthemum is widely cultivated as an ornamental flowering plant[200], there are many named varieties. It is also occasionally grown in the Orient for its edible leaves, a number of cultivars have been developed with leaves that are low in bitterness[116].
It has been proposed (1999) to restore this species to Chrysanthemum as C. x morifolium Ramat. since the plant is so widely known under this name.

Propagation

Seed - sow spring to early summer in a greenhouse and only just cover the seed. It usually germinates in 10 - 18 days at 15° c but if it does not germinate within 4 weeks then try chilling the seed for 3 weeks in the salad compartment of a fridge[164]. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and plant them out in the summer. This is a hybrid species and so will not breed true from seed.
Division in spring. Larger clumps can be replanted direct into their permanent positions, though it is best to pot up smaller clumps and grow them on in a cold frame until they are rooting well. Plant them out in the spring.

Cultivars

'': There are some named forms for this species, but these have been developed for their ornamental value and not for their other uses. Unless you particularly require the special characteristics of any of these cultivars, we would generally recommend that you grow the natural species for its useful properties. We have, therefore, not listed the cultivars in this database[K].

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

Web References

[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

References for Chrysanthemum sinense (a possible synonym).

[H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database
[E] Ethnobotany Data (common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.

References for Chrysanthemum x morifolium (a possible synonym).

[H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[1] F. Chittendon. RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 Oxford University Press 1951
Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaces in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [200]).

[46] Uphof. J. C. Th. Dictionary of Economic Plants. Weinheim 1959
An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.

[105] Tanaka. T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing 1976
The most comprehensive guide to edible plants I've come across. Only the briefest entry for each species, though, and some of the entries are more than a little dubious. Not for the casual reader.

[116] Brooklyn Botanic Garden Oriental Herbs and Vegetables, Vol 39 No. 2. Brooklyn Botanic Garden 1986
A small booklet packed with information.

[147] ? A Barefoot Doctors Manual. Running Press ISBN 0-914294-92-X
A very readable herbal from China, combining some modern methods with traditional chinese methods.

[164] Bird. R. (Editor) Growing from Seed. Volume 4. Thompson and Morgan. 1990
Very readable magazine with lots of information on propagation. A good article on Yuccas, one on Sagebrush (Artemesia spp) and another on Chaerophyllum bulbosum.

[176] Yeung. Him-Che. Handbook of Chinese Herbs and Formulas. Institute of Chinese Medicine, Los Angeles 1985
A very good Chinese herbal.

[179] Reid. B. E. Famine Foods of the Chiu-Huang Pen-ts'ao. Taipei. Southern Materials Centre 1977
A translation of an ancient Chinese book on edible wild foods. Fascinating.

[183] Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications 1990 ISBN 0-9628087-0-9
Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

[218] Duke. J. A. and Ayensu. E. S. Medicinal Plants of China Reference Publications, Inc. 1985 ISBN 0-917256-20-4
Details of over 1,200 medicinal plants of China and brief details of their uses. Often includes an analysis, or at least a list of constituents. Heavy going if you are not into the subject.

[238] Bown. D. Encyclopaedia of Herbs and their Uses. Dorling Kindersley, London. 1995 ISBN 0-7513-020-31
A very well presented and informative book on herbs from around the globe. Plenty in it for both the casual reader and the serious student. Just one main quibble is the silly way of having two separate entries for each plant.

[254] Chevallier. A. The Encyclopedia of Medicinal Plants Dorling Kindersley. London 1996 ISBN 9-780751-303148
An excellent guide to over 500 of the more well known medicinal herbs from around the world.

[259] Wolverton. B. C. Eco-Friendly House Plants. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. London. 1996 ISBN 0-297-83484-3
Excellent guide to pollution in the home and those plants that can help to remove the problem. Most of the plants are not hardy outdoors in the temperate zone, though a number of species can be grown outside.

Readers Comments

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