Edible–medicinal substance · on the official list
Chrysanthemum Flower
Also called：杭白菊贡菊
List entry
Three layers of annotation
Every item is written in three separate layers: classical text, folk custom, and modern literature. Nothing is guessed.
Layer 1 · Classical text Checked
Quoted verbatim with its source. No interpretation.
Original: 味苦，平。主风头眩肿痛，目欲脱，泪出，皮肤死肌，恶风湿痹。久服利血气，轻身耐老延年。 — literal rendering: “Bitter, even. It governs wind, dizziness of the head with swelling and pain, eyes about to fall out, tears, dead flesh of the skin, malignant wind-damp impediment. Taken long, it benefits blood and qi, lightens the body and lengthens the years.”
《神农本草经》· 上品「菊华」· 清 · 孙星衍、孙冯翼辑本（问经堂本）（Shennong Bencao Jing, upper grade, “Juhua”, in the Sun Xingyan / Sun Fengyi reconstruction, Wenjingtang edition）
Quoted as it stands, without interpretation. This layer has been checked: the passage was collated character by character against a scan of the Sun Xingyan / Sun Fengyi reconstruction of the Shennong Bencao Jing (Wenjingtang edition) and agrees. In that reconstruction the entry is headed 菊华, an alternative spelling, so the headword differs by one character from the familiar form while the quoted text does not.
Layer 2 · Folk custom Checked
Who ate it, at which solar term, and how.
Original: 九月九日，佩茱萸，食蓬饵，饮菊华酒，令人长寿。菊华舒时，并采茎叶，杂黍米酿之，至来年九月九日始熟，就饮焉，故谓之菊华酒。 — literal rendering: “On the ninth day of the ninth month they wore zhuyu, ate peng’er cakes and drank chrysanthemum wine, which was held to give long life. When the chrysanthemums opened, the stems and leaves were gathered and brewed with millet; it matured by the ninth day of the ninth month the following year, and was then drunk — hence the name chrysanthemum wine.”
《西京杂记》卷三 · 汉 刘歆撰、晋 葛洪录 · 四部丛刊景印明嘉靖孔天胤刻本（Xijing Zaji, ch. 3, Sibu Congkan reprint of the Ming Jiajing Kong Tianyin edition）
Original: 九月重阳，都下赏菊，有数种……无处无之。酒家皆以菊花缚成洞户。都人多出郊外登高。 — literal rendering: “In the ninth month, at Double Ninth, the capital admired chrysanthemums, of several kinds… there was nowhere without them. The wine houses bound chrysanthemums into arched doorways. Most townspeople went out beyond the city to climb the heights.”
《东京梦华录》卷八 · 宋 孟元老 · 元刻本（Dongjing Menghua Lu, ch. 8, Meng Yuanlao, Song; Yuan-dynasty block-print edition）
Both records fall in the ninth lunar month, where Cold Dew also sits, so they hang under this solar term. The promise of long life is the sources’ own wording: quoted, not endorsed. This layer has been checked: both lines were collated character by character against scans of the Sibu Congkan reprint of the Ming Jiajing Kong Tianyin edition of the Xijing Zaji (ch. 3) and of a Yuan-dynasty block-print edition of the Dongjing Menghua Lu (ch. 8), and both agree.
Layer 3 · Modern literature Not searched
If no search has been run, it reads not searched.
No literature search has been run, so this layer reads not searched. It is never filled in from memory.
Safety notes unchecked
No particular warning is recorded for this entry. Being on the list is not a safety assessment.
How it is cooked at home
Chrysanthemum tea
Put three to five dried chrysanthemum flowers in a cup, pour on boiling water and let stand two or three minutes. It can also be brewed with goji berries, with a little rock sugar if you like.
Amounts are for cooking, not a recommended dose.
Solar terms
Review status
Draft · unchecked List data is taken from the official notices. English names, part used and safety notes have not been checked item by item yet.
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