Chrysanthemum's the word

A flower idolized in traditional Chinese medicine that also symbolizes the coming of fall.

Well, it’s finally fall, and I won’t be reprimanded for my celebration of this season!

The leaves are falling, the air is cooler with that all-too familiar fall smell, and most of nature is planning a long hibernation.

At the same time that nature begins to plan its seasonal slumber several bits of nature continue to thrive, or even bloom during this time of the year.

No flower serves as a welcoming symbol of fall than the chrysanthemum, or ‘mums’¹ for short. In contrast to the coming slumber that other plants plan, chrysanthemums tend to bloom in late summer/early fall, and you’re very likely to come across these wide array of flowers in your local store.

Image from Quiet-Corner

The name is derived from Greek and means “yellow flower”. It was suggested that yellow mums were recorded since around 15,000 BCE in China, although many different colors are available. As of now, several thousand different cultivars of chrysanthemums have been discovered.

Mums are an Old World plant, growing predominately in East Asia as well as in some parts of Europe. All species are part of the unsurprising genus of Chrysanthemum, which is part of the aster family (Asteraceae).

Due to their region of origin, mums have garnered a large role in many Asian cultures. They are generally considered a symbol of love, loyalty, happiness, longevity, and joy, among bearing other meanings. Due to their later blossoming period they have been associated with a hermit lifestyle, as well as a lifestyle of resilience and perseverance.

In fact, chrysanthemums are one of the four noble men/gentlemen in Chinese culture, sharing this position with orchids, bamboo, and plum blossoms as being a large focus on Chinese art and poetry.

Tao Yuanming (365-427), a Chinese poet/politician was known for the popularization of certain prose, and was influential in the portrayal of chrysanthemums in art. He’s allegedly considered one of the great poets of the world.

One poem in his Drinking Wine series references Chrysanthemums:

built my hut in a zone of human habitation,
Yet near me there sounds no noise of horse or coach.
Would you know how that is possible?
A heart that is distant creates a wilderness round it.
I pluck chrysanthemums under the eastern hedge,
Then gaze long at the distant summer hills.
The mountain air is fresh at the dusk of day:
The flying birds two by two return.
In these things there lies a deep meaning;
Yet when we would express it, words suddenly fail us.

Another Chinese poet/politician Yuan Zhen (779 – September 2, 831) wrote a poem titled Chrysanthemum Flowers, which is a bit reflective of their late blooming period (and also references Tao Yuanming, further revealing his overall influence on poetry and art):

Autumn clusters surround my house just like Tao Yuanming's.
I walk full circle round the fence as the sun slowly tilts.
It's not that I love chrysanthemums more than other flowers,
but that no others will blossom after these blooms wither.

There’s plenty of images in Chinese and Japanese art featuring chrysanthemums. Rather than label them all, see what you can find. Here’s a few that I have found, but see what other pieces feature this flower:

A fan depicting white chrysanthemums on gold. Art from Ogata Kenzan (1743), and featured in The Met from where this image was taken.

Due to the time of their blossoming, mums are featured prominently during the Double Ninth Festival celebrated by many Asian cultures on the 9th day of the 9th Month (September 9th to be more specific), which is a time where various autumn and cultural events take place. They tend to show an appearance in my family during this time of year where we show remembrance and respect to our ancestors, and are generally part of a display including other items such as food, candles, and incense.

An article from Stories from the Museum Floor elaborates more on this tradition [context added]:

It [Double Ninth Festival] has been a traditional Chinese holiday since before the Eastern Han period (CE 25). According to the Yi Jing (Classic of Changes), nine is a Yang number. As the 9^th September (double nine) has too much Yang (a traditional Chinese spiritual concept), it is thus a potentially dangerous date. Hence, the day is also called ‘Double Yang Festival’, and to avoid danger it is a tradition to climb a mountain, drink chrysanthemum liquor, and wear a sprig of the plant Cornus officinalis (Asiatic dogwood). Both Cornus officinalis and chrysanthemum are considered to have cleansing qualities and are used to freshen homes and cure illnesses. It is customary to appreciate chrysanthemum flowers, drink chrysanthemum liquor, and eat chrysanthemum cakes on this autumn festival day.

Yellow chrysanthemums tend to be a featured chrysanthemum. It’s also why you may notice yellow chrysanthemums in particular in grocery stores. Even Costco has taken to providing yellow mums along with red envelopes during the Lunar New Year.

Yellow chrysanthemum, which is one of the first types of flowers to gain cultural significance. Image from Health Benefit Times

In Japan, this day is referred to specifically as Chrysanthemum Day/Festival, or Kiku no Sekku, and shares many cultural similarities to China’s celebration of this season.

Ironically, although Japan is known for their cherry blossoms, it is the chrysanthemum that serves as the symbol of the imperial family, and appears on Japanese passports, indicating their significance.

The imperial seal of Japan, which is in the style of a chrysanthemum. Image from Wikipedia.

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The color of mums

Chrysanthemums have been used in traditional Chinese medicine for centuries, with the flower in particular, called Ju Hua, being used in tea as a way of dealing with various maladies and providing a multitude of health benefits.

Usually Chrysanthemum morifolium (the species described in traditional Chinese medicine) or Chrysanthemum indicum (Indian chrysanthemums) are the two species found in chrysanthemum tea, and are usually dried and reconstituted. You’re likely to find chrysanthemum tea during dim sum where a pot is brought out alongside rock sugar.

Their use has been detailed through various dynasties as compounds included with other plants. However, an excerpt from Yuan, et al.² notes their initial use in food through tea, wine, and other forms of consumption:

Juhua was first used as food in the Warring States, and its consumption became increasingly popular and diverse later in history. Applications of Juhua in wine, tea, congee, and cake making emerged successively from Han to Qing dynasty (Chen, 2007). Also, Juhua has been consumed in the way of health-building diet and food therapy since Qing dynasty, such as cooked with chicken, pork, fish, and so on. Recently, health beverage using Juhua extracts as the main material becomes its new consumption method, but tea remains the most popular one. Two hundred and eighty-eight domestic and seven imported dietary supplement products containing Juhua or its extract were approved by CFDA (China Food and Drug Administration, 2020)

Many of the pharmacologically active molecules derived from mums are likely to be associated with their color pigments. This is the same mechanism as other plants, fruits, veggies, and berries in which the health benefits are associated with the specific hues of these plants. Similar comments were made in the leaves article, as this is a large area of overlap across plants:

As such, much of the benefits from chrysanthemum tea appear to be derived from the anthocyanins and flavonoids that provide the variety of color to flower petals (Mekapogu, et al. 2022³):

Carotenoids, flavonoids, betalains, and anthocyanins are the major pigments responsible for the colorful pigmentation in floral petal coloration [48]. Carotenoids impart orange, yellow, and bright red colors, and anthocyanins include six anthocyanidin types: cyanidin, delphinidin, petunidin, peonidin, malvidin, and pelargonidin. Among these, cyanidin, pelargonidin, and delphinidin are the major types that impart diverse colors ranging from orange to red, and purple to blue [49].

In short, orange, red, and yellow hues in mums are derived from carotenoids such as Beta-carotene. A study examining the carotene content of yellow chrysanthemum petals in comparison to white petals noted that violaxanthin, lutein, and beta-carotene levels were the primarily abundant carotenoids, with different isomers of lutein also forming as these petals mature.⁴

Biosynthetic pathway for carotenoids of yellow chrysanthemum petals and leaves, in particular the cultivar Yellow Paragon. Note that beta-carotene, violaxanthin, and lutein/lutein isomers (bottom left for different isomers) are the predominate compounds which provide that yellow hue. From Kishimoto, S. & Ohmiya, A.

When it comes to anthocyanins, the main anthocyanin found in chrysanthemums are derived from cyanidins and provide a reddish/pink pigment, although different ratios of cyanidin-based anthocyanins may alter the pink/purple hue of these flowers. However, in recent years transgenic studies have led to higher expression of other pathways such as delphinidin-based pathways, leading to blue chrysanthemums (Mekapogu, et al. 2020⁵):

Of these three basic groups of anthocyanins, ray florets of chrysanthemum mainly accumulate cyanidin-based anthocyanins, such as cyanidin-3-O- (6″-O-malonyl) glucoside and cyanidin 3-O-(3″6″-di-O-malonyl) glucoside [8,35,36,37]. Early reports suggested that the pink to purple-red color in cyanidin-based ray petals depends on the cyanidin content [38]. Notably, chrysanthemums do not naturally accumulate delphinidin-based anthocyanins [39]. However, transgenic studies in the past decade have produced purple/violet transgenic chrysanthemum flowers, likely to be due to the accumulation of delphinidin-based anthocyanins, including delphinidin 3-(6″-malonyl) glucoside and delphinidin 3-(3″,6″-dimalonyl) glucoside in flower petals [39]. The generation of blue-colored chrysanthemums is further discussed in Section 8.5. Recently, transgenic chrysanthemum with novel blue petals has been generated, with the accumulation of delphinidin-based anthocyanin, delphinidin 3-O-(6″-O-malonyl) glucoside-3′,5′-di-O-glucoside, and co-pigmentation found in blue petals [40].

Biosynthetic pathways in the formation of different anthocyanins. Note that cyanidins refer to compounds which lack conjugation to a sugar, which are much less stable relative to anthocyanins. The dashed lines represent anthocyanin pathways naturally absent in chrysanthemums, with transgenic modifications leading to expression of delphinidin and the blue color in some chrysanthemums. From Mekapogu, et al. 2020

Overall yellow, white, and pink are the most common colors seen in wild mums, but through crossbreeding and other modifications various colors have come to market in recent years, along with mums bearing different shapes and structures.

Health benefits of mums

It’s difficult to clamp down on the various health benefits of mums. As noted above, they have been used extensively in traditional Chinese medicine for many years to treat various ailments, with Yuan, et al. noting this comment on the use of Ju Hua:

Juhua originates in China and has been used over 3 thousand years as a diet, especially flower tea for healthcare and TCM. Due to its traditional efficacies of “scattering cold”, “cleaning heat and toxin”, and ‘‘brightening eyes”, Juhua can be used for “common cold with wind-heat pattern”, “swelling and pain of eye”, and “dim-sighted”, and it is effective in clinical for a wide variety of diseases such as fever, headache, sore throat, hypertension, etc. (Chinese Pharmacopoeia Commission, 2015; Hu, 2015; Lin and Harnly, 2010).

Many of these flavonoids, terpenoids, and anthocyanins are argued to provide anti-inflammatory, antioxidative, anticancer, and antimicrobial properties.

The degree of these benefits are extensive, owing to the pharmacological properties of each compound, their bioavailability, and the dosage sourced from consumption of chrysanthemums. Because of this it is difficult to encapsulate all of these possible benefits into one article. The Yuan, et al. review is a good collection of possible benefits for those interested.

A review of sesquiterpenoids sourced from the genus Chrysanthemum can be found from Jiang, et al,⁶ with the conclusion noting the following:

Sesquiterpenoids are one of the main chemical constituents of the Chrysanthemum genus which have various chiral centers and configurations. At present, 135 sesquiterpenes have been reported from the Chrysanthemum genus (most of them were isolated from C. morifolium and C. indicum), mainly including germacrane-type sesquiterpenoids, eudesmane-type sesquiterpenoids, and guaianolide-type sesquiterpenoids. The compounds have been found to exhibit wide spectrum pharmacological activities such as anti-inflammatory, antitumor, antibacterial, antiviral, antidiabetic, and anti-obesity activities. The activity of some compounds has been found to be better than that of positive control drugs in vitro. Some compounds, especially guaianolide-type sesquiterpenoids, showed better anticancer and anti-inflammatory activity, and their mechanism of action was explained from the aspects of signal pathway and target, which was consistent with the traditional function of clearing heat and removing toxicity exhibited by the Chrysanthemum genus, which is widely distributed in China and has unique advantages in number and species. Therefore, further research and development of the Chrysanthemum genus based on sesquiterpenoids need to be conducted.

Additional research notes possible benefits in regards to hypertension and hyperlipidemia. Several pieces of research have suggested possible hepatoprotective benefits from compounds sourced from chrysanthemums. However, note that these remarks are very broad, and actual benefits of chrysanthemum tea must take into account the compounds and their dosage.

Some of these extra articles for those interested include the following. Note that I haven’t read all of these studies and can’t speak to the veracity or impact of these reviews/studies:

• Sun, et al.⁷: Hypolipidemic Effects and Preliminary Mechanism of Chrysanthemum Flavonoids, Its Main Components Luteolin and Luteoloside in Hyperlipidemia Rats

• Han, et al.⁸: Phytochemical Composition and Antioxidant Activities of Two Different Color Chrysanthemum Flower Teas.

• Tian, et al.⁹: Chrysanthemum extract attenuates hepatotoxicity via inhibiting oxidative stress in vivo and in vitro.

• Wu, et al.¹⁰: Network pharmacology analysis to explore mechanism of Three Flower Tea against nonalcoholic fatty liver disease with experimental support using high-fat diet-induced rats.

• Hao, et al.¹¹: The genus Chrysanthemum: Phylogeny, biodiversity, phytometabolites, and chemodiversity.

  • This is a rather extensive review noting different compounds found in chrysanthemums.

• Yang, et al.¹²: Analysis of Floral Volatile Components and Antioxidant Activity of Different Varieties of Chrysanthemum morifolium.

What’s interesting is that pieces of literature looking at the benefits of chrysanthemums have looked in particular at liver protection, and some evidence suggests that chrysanthemum tea may help with hangovers to some degree.

A study from Wang, et al,¹³ which has been cited in various outlets, looked at the effects of consuming different products on liver enzymes in mice when they are exposed to alcohol.

In short, the study suggested that consumption of chrysanthemum tea appears to increase expression of alcohol dehydrogenase, the enzyme responsible for the first metabolism of ethyl alcohol into an aldehyde. It also appeared to reduce liver enzyme levels (AST and ALT) suggesting a possible hepatoprotective effect.

I don’t consider this study to argue much in the way of actually consuming chrysanthemum tea when drunk or having a hangover, but it seems to provide some further argument towards a possible hepatoprotective role of chrysanthemums.

Although rather alluring, bear in mind that it may be easier to source these compounds from other plants. Also, remember that the information here is for informational purposes only.

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It’s mum season!

Whether we are consuming chrysanthemums for possible health benefits, or enjoying them as a symbol of the fall season, there’s no doubt that these flowers serve as a feast for the eyes…and possibly the stomach. Just don’t go grazing on your neighbors flowers!

So enjoy the coming fall season, and take time to examine nature changing. As some things go to sleep, see what comes alive. There’s a lot to learn about life and nature during this time.

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1. For those curious, the phrase “mum’s the word” possibly comes from Old English, where the word possibly referred to the sound made from closed lips. It could also be derived from other languages such as German, although it’s been a bit difficult to find the actual source of this phrase. Regardless, it’s apparent that the shorthand ‘mums’ is not related to the phrase.

2. Yuan, H., Jiang, S., Liu, Y., Daniyal, M., Jian, Y., Peng, C., Shen, J., Liu, S., & Wang, W. (2020). The flower head of Chrysanthemum morifolium Ramat. (Juhua): A paradigm of flowers serving as Chinese dietary herbal medicine. Journal of ethnopharmacology, 261, 113043. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2020.113043

3. Mekapogu, M., Kwon, O. K., Song, H. Y., & Jung, J. A. (2022). Towards the Improvement of Ornamental Attributes in Chrysanthemum: Recent Progress in Biotechnological Advances. International journal of molecular sciences, 23(20), 12284. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms232012284

4. Kishimoto, Sanae & Ohmiya, Akemi. (2006). Regulation of carotenoid biosynthesis in petals and leaves of chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum morifolium). Physiologia Plantarum. 128. 436 - 447. 10.1111/j.1399-3054.2006.00761.x.

5. Mekapogu, M., Vasamsetti, B. M. K., Kwon, O. K., Ahn, M. S., Lim, S. H., & Jung, J. A. (2020). Anthocyanins in Floral Colors: Biosynthesis and Regulation in Chrysanthemum Flowers. International journal of molecular sciences, 21(18), 6537. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms21186537

6. Jiang, S., Wang, M., Jiang, Z., Zafar, S., Xie, Q., Yang, Y., Liu, Y., Yuan, H., Jian, Y., & Wang, W. (2021). Chemistry and Pharmacological Activity of Sesquiterpenoids from the Chrysanthemum Genus. Molecules (Basel, Switzerland), 26(10), 3038. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules26103038

7. Sun, J., Wang, Z., Chen, L., & Sun, G. (2021). Hypolipidemic Effects and Preliminary Mechanism of Chrysanthemum Flavonoids, Its Main Components Luteolin and Luteoloside in Hyperlipidemia Rats. Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland), 10(8), 1309. https://doi.org/10.3390/antiox10081309

8. Han, A. R., Nam, B., Kim, B. R., Lee, K. C., Song, B. S., Kim, S. H., Kim, J. B., & Jin, C. H. (2019). Phytochemical Composition and Antioxidant Activities of Two Different Color Chrysanthemum Flower Teas. Molecules (Basel, Switzerland), 24(2), 329. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules24020329

9. Tian, Z., Jia, H., Jin, Y., Wang, M., Kou, J., Wang, C., Rong, X., Xie, X., Han, G., & Pang, X. (2019). Chrysanthemum extract attenuates hepatotoxicity via inhibiting oxidative stress in vivo and in vitro. Food & nutrition research, 63, 10.29219/fnr.v63.1667. https://doi.org/10.29219/fnr.v63.1667

10. Wu, P., Liang, S., He, Y., Lv, R., Yang, B., Wang, M., Wang, C., Li, Y., Song, X., & Sun, W. (2022). Network pharmacology analysis to explore mechanism of Three Flower Tea against nonalcoholic fatty liver disease with experimental support using high-fat diet-induced rats. Chinese herbal medicines, 14(2), 273–282. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chmed.2022.03.002

11. Hao, D. C., Song, Y., Xiao, P., Zhong, Y., Wu, P., & Xu, L. (2022). The genus Chrysanthemum: Phylogeny, biodiversity, phytometabolites, and chemodiversity. Frontiers in plant science, 13, 973197. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.973197

12. Yang, L., Aobulikasimu·Nuerbiye, Cheng, P., Wang, J. H., & Li, H. (2017). Analysis of Floral Volatile Components and Antioxidant Activity of Different Varieties of Chrysanthemum morifolium. Molecules (Basel, Switzerland), 22(10), 1790. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules22101790

13. Wang, F., Zhang, Y. J., Zhou, Y., Li, Y., Zhou, T., Zheng, J., Zhang, J. J., Li, S., Xu, D. P., & Li, H. B. (2016). Effects of Beverages on Alcohol Metabolism: Potential Health Benefits and Harmful Impacts. International journal of molecular sciences, 17(3), 354. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms17030354