Safflower, the dyers’ red flower

Hong Hua simply reads “red flower”. Its species name, tinctorius, means “of the dyers”: arriving from Central Asia along the Silk Road, safflower was China’s great red dye until synthetic colourants, and the material of women’s red rouge. The florets are used, which open yellow then turn bright orange-red; they are picked from late May to mid-June, early in the morning, still covered in dew. Xinjiang is today China’s leading producer.

Setting the Blood in motion

In traditional Chinese medicine, safflower is warm and pungent in taste: the pungent taste disperses what has congealed, the warmth drives movement. It enters the Heart, which governs the vessels, and the Liver, which stores the Blood and ensures it flows freely. Tradition ranks it among the most representative of the herbs that move the Blood, in the chest, the abdomen and the limbs alike. A Ming author called it “a herb of the Qi within the Blood”, and tradition specifies that everything depends on the amount: a little nourishes and harmonises the Blood; a lot sets it vigorously in motion.

Safflower or saffron

Chinese calls saffron “the red flower of the West”, and the two names look alike; the two plants have almost nothing in common. Safflower gives warm, pungent florets, saffron cool, sweet stigmas, far more expensive: one is never replaced by the other without the buyer’s knowledge. With Chinese angelica, which nourishes the Blood, safflower moves it without depleting it; with peach kernel, it forms the backbone of Tao Hong Si Wu Tang, which nourishes and moves at the same time.

Key benefits

Blood in motion & open vessels

Pungent and warm, safflower supports Blood circulation where it has come to a halt.

Smooth circulation & whole body

According to Chinese tradition, it sets the Blood moving again in the chest, the abdomen and the limbs, for smooth and harmonious circulation.

Qi & Blood harmonised

A herb of the Qi within the Blood, it harmonises both; in small amounts, it nourishes the Blood.