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Habitats
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Cultivated Beds;
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Edible Uses
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Edible Parts: Flowers; Leaves.
Edible Uses: 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].
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Medicinal Uses
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Plants For A Future can not take any responsibility for any adverse effects from the use of plants. Always seek advice from a professional before using a plant medicinally.
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].
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Other Uses
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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].
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Cultivation details
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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.
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Propagation
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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.
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Links / References
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[1]F. Chittendon. RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956
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Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaces in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [200]).
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[46]Uphof. J. C. Th. Dictionary of Economic Plants.
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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.
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[105]Tanaka. T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World.
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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.
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[116]Brooklyn Botanic Garden Oriental Herbs and Vegetables, Vol 39 No. 2.
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A small booklet packed with information.
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[147]? A Barefoot Doctors Manual.
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A very readable herbal from China, combining some modern methods with traditional chinese methods.
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[164]Bird. R. (Editor) Growing from Seed. Volume 4.
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Very readable magazine with lots of information on propagation. A good article on Yuccas, one on Sagebrush (Artemesia spp) and another on Chaerophyllum bulbosum.
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[176]Yeung. Him-Che. Handbook of Chinese Herbs and Formulas.
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An excellent Chinese herbal giving information on over 500 species. Rather technical and probably best suited to the more accomplished user of herbs.
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[179]Reid. B. E. Famine Foods of the Chiu-Huang Pen-ts'ao.
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A translation of an ancient Chinese book on edible wild foods. Fascinating.
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[183]Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants.
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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.
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[200]Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992.
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Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
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[218]Duke. J. A. and Ayensu. E. S. Medicinal Plants of China
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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.
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[238]Bown. D. Encyclopaedia of Herbs and their Uses.
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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.
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[254]Chevallier. A. The Encyclopedia of Medicinal Plants
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An excellent guide to over 500 of the more well known medicinal herbs from around the world.
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[259]Wolverton. B. C. Eco-Friendly House Plants.
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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.
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Subject : Dendranthema x grandiflorum
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