Ji Guan Hua

Ji Guan Hua is the dried inflorescence of Celosia cristata L. (Amaranthaceae), commonly called cockscomb for its broad, fan-shaped, crested flower head in shades of red, pink, yellow, or white. The annual herb grows 30 to 90 cm tall with glabrous stems, alternate ovate-lanceolate leaves, and dense fasciated cymes whose tiny membranous bracts persist after drying. Native to tropical Asia and now cultivated throughout China, India, and Southeast Asia, the flower is harvested in autumn when fully open and sun-dried. In traditional Chinese medicine the flower enters the Liver and Large Intestine channels, cools blood, stops bleeding, and is used for hemorrhoidal bleeding, uterine bleeding, blood in stool, and chronic dysentery; red-flowered forms are preferred for blood-cooling work.