Thursday, February 9

Chrysanthemum indicum



English name:

Indian chrysanthemum.

Description:

Annual or perennial herb, 20-50 cm. high. Stems sulcate, glabrous. Leaves alternate, deeply lobed and irregularly toothed. Inflorescence is an axillary or terminal corymb of many heads; flowers yellow. The species Chrysanthemum morifolium Ram. is also used medicinally.

Flowering period:

November - January.

Distribution:

Naturalized species grown for flavouring wines, spirits, etc... and for ornamental and medicinal purposes.

Parts used:

Flowers. The flowers are picked in October and December. They are subjected to sulfur fumigation for 2-3 hours, then bulked together and reduced by compression. A black liquid should be extracted from the flowers. After pressing, the flowers are spread in thin layers to dry in an oven at low temperature.

Chemical composition:

The flowers yield the glycoside chrysanthemin that yields glucose and cyanidin on hydrolysis, together with stachydrine, an essential oil and vitamin A. The semidried seeds contain 15.8% oil.

Therapeutic uses:

The flowers possess antibacterial and antihypertensive properties. They are utilized in medication for photopsia, vertigo, fever, headache, ophthalmia, dacryolithiasis, xerophthalmia, amblyopia, hypertension, furunculosis and phlegmon. Their long-term use is rejuvenating. The daily dose is 8 to 16g in the form of a decoction. They are also a constituent of composite prescriptions. Washing with the decoction and poultices of pounded flowers are effective in furunculosis and impetigo.

Source: Medicinal plants in Viet Nam (Institute of Materia Medica).

3 comments:

  1. done for the day... for some reason my catalyst is completely dead at a certain temperature ... sigh .. the joys of chemical engineering !!

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  2. Chicory is a multi-tasking herb - <a rel="nofollow"

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  3. Health News from Medical News TodayApril 6, 2011 at 10:48 PM

    Promising novel treatment for human cancer -- Chrysanthemum indicum extract - <a rel="nofollow"

    ReplyDelete