Eden Apothecary · Herb Profile
Chrysanthemum morifolium
Pronounced Chrysanthemum: kri-SAN-the-mum. Ju Hua: joo hwah. Chrysanthemum morifolium: kri-SAN-the-mum mor-ih-FOH-lee-um.
Cool, light, and dispersing: a gentle flower that lifts wind-heat off the surface and floats heat down out of a hot, wound-up head and red, tired eyes.
Insufficient reliable modern data; avoid medicinal or supplemental amounts. Natural Medicines and NCCIH note there is not enough reliable information to know whether chrysanthemum is safe in pregnancy and advise avoiding use. Occasional culinary-strength tea has a long traditional history, but concentrated or therapeutic use should be avoided for want of safety data. (Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database; NCCIH.)
Insufficient reliable data; avoid amounts greater than in food. There is not enough reliable information on chrysanthemum during lactation; culinary tea amounts are presumed low-risk, but supplemental or therapeutic doses should be avoided, and mothers with Asteraceae allergy should be cautious. (Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database; NCCIH.)
No established medicinal dose in children; safety data are lacking. Weak culinary-strength chrysanthemum tea is traditionally given in East Asia, but concentrated or medicinal use should be avoided without professional guidance, and children with ragweed or daisy-family allergy should avoid it. (Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database.)
Chrysanthemum is a gentle, food-grade flower with a wide safety margin as a tea, but three real cautions apply. First, it belongs to the Asteraceae (daisy) family: people allergic to ragweed, marigolds, daisies, or chamomile can react to it, and handling the fresh plant is a well-documented cause of allergic and airborne contact dermatitis. Second, it is photosensitizing and can make skin more prone to sunburn, so use sun protection. Third, and most important for medicinal use, chrysanthemum inhibits the drug-metabolizing enzyme CYP3A4 and the P-glycoprotein transporter, so concentrated or frequent use can raise blood levels of many medications (a transplant patient developed toxic immunosuppressant levels after chrysanthemum tea). Being cool and bitter, it is also poorly suited to cold, weak digestion and can loosen the stool.
Known allergy to chrysanthemum or other Asteraceae/Compositae plants (ragweed, marigold, daisy, chamomile, feverfew); concurrent use of narrow-therapeutic-index drugs metabolized by CYP3A4 or transported by P-glycoprotein, especially immunosuppressants such as tacrolimus and cyclosporine; pregnancy and lactation in medicinal amounts (insufficient safety data); and cold, deficient digestive states in which a cooling, bitter herb aggravates.
Not at risk. Chrysanthemum morifolium is a cultivated ornamental and agricultural crop grown at large scale for tea and medicine (notably Hangzhou and Tongxiang Hang Bai Ju, Chuzhou, and Bo Ju grades), with no wild-harvest pressure. Choose organically grown, sulfur-free, food-grade flowers, since ornamental chrysanthemums are often treated with pesticides and are not intended for consumption.
Not in canonical biblical texts. Chrysanthemum is native to East Asia and is a classic of Chinese medicine, first recorded in the Shennong Ben Cao Jing (Divine Farmer's Materia Medica, c. Han dynasty) among the superior / upper-grade herbs, and long associated in Chinese culture with autumn, longevity, and the ninth-month Double Ninth (Chongyang) festival.
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