Ye Ju Hua
StarChrysanthemum indicum L.
Traditionally used for
- Headaches
- Eye health
- Nose & throat
- Skin
☯ TCM Properties
Clears Heat and Resolves Toxicity; Clears Heat and Reduces Swelling; Courses the Liver and Drains Heat; Disperses Wind-Heat
Traditional Chinese Uses
Ye Ju Hua (wild chrysanthemum flower) is a bitter, cold herb considerably more potent than regular chrysanthemum (Ju Hua) in its ability to clear Heat toxin. It is a primary herb for carbuncles, furuncles, boils, and inflammatory skin abscesses from Heat toxin, as well as for throat infections, sore eyes, and Wind-Heat headache. Its stronger detoxifying action compared to garden chrysanthemum makes it preferred for acute infections and inflammatory conditions where a powerful Heat-clearing response is needed.
Relationships
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Botanical Description
Chrysanthemum indicum, the wild or Indian chrysanthemum, is a perennial herb of the family Asteraceae, native to grassy slopes, roadsides, and forest margins across China, Korea, Japan, and parts of South and Southeast Asia. It grows 30 to 100 cm tall from short underground stolons, with erect, often branched stems bearing alternate, ovate, deeply pinnately lobed leaves with serrate margins that are softly grayish-pubescent beneath and aromatic when crushed. From late summer into autumn it produces numerous small composite flower heads 1 to 2.5 cm across, arranged in loose corymbose clusters; each head bears bright yellow ray florets surrounding a yellow disk, subtended by overlapping green involucral bracts. The flower heads are harvested at full bloom and dried for medicinal use, distinct from the larger, paler, cultivated heads of C. morifolium used as Ju Hua.
Active Constituents
Linarin (buddleoside, acacetin-7-O-rutinoside)
Flavone glycosideConcentration: 0.001 to 3.284 percent of the dried flower head across 70 germplasms; only 41.4 percent of those germplasms reached the 0.8 percent required by the Chinese Pharmacopoeia
The pharmacopoeial marker for Chrysanthemi Indici Flos and the compound the drug is standardised on. A buddleoside-rich extract was hypotensive, hypoglycaemic and hypolipidaemic in diet-induced metabolic syndrome, rebalancing macrophage subpopulations and blocking NF-kappaB signalling. The nearly thousandfold spread in content across germplasms, and the fact that most fail the standard, is the single most practical fact about this herb: nominal gram doses are close to meaningless without a certificate of analysis. A white-flowered variant lacking linarin altogether has been characterised.
Luteolin
FlavoneConcentration: 0.010 to 0.403 percent of the dried flower head across 70 germplasms
One of the two flavones consistently cited for the anti-inflammatory effect of this species. Content behaves unusually during drying, rising and then falling with a peak at around 40 percent water content, so origin processing changes the assay result as much as germplasm does.
Apigenin
FlavoneConcentration: 0.003 to 0.152 percent of the dried flower head across 70 germplasms
Minor flavone aglycone of the flower head, contributing to the anti-inflammatory profile attributed to the drug.
Acacetin (4'-O-methylapigenin)
FlavoneConcentration: 0 to 0.145 percent of the dried flower head across 70 germplasms; absent altogether in some
The aglycone of linarin. Its complete absence from some germplasms is a further reason to treat the species as chemically heterogeneous rather than a single defined drug.
Chlorogenic acid
Hydroxycinnamic acid ester (caffeoylquinic acid)Concentration: 0.052 to 0.815 percent of the dried flower head across 70 germplasms
Major phenylpropanoid of the flower head. It falls significantly with drying, so freshly dried material and long-stored material are not interchangeable on assay.
Isochlorogenic acid A (3,5-di-O-caffeoylquinic acid)
Dicaffeoylquinic acidConcentration: 0.007 to 1.888 percent of the dried flower head across 70 germplasms, with isochlorogenic acids B and C at 0.007 to 0.574 and 0.006 to 0.429 percent
Frequently the most abundant single phenylpropanoid in high-quality material. The phenylpropanoid content correlates positively with flower colour parameters, which is the empirical basis for the trade practice of judging quality of this drug by colour.
Camphor
Bicyclic monoterpene ketoneConcentration: 36.69 percent of the essential oil of Chrysanthemum indicum, against 14.56 percent of the oil of Chrysanthemum morifolium
The clearest chemical line between Ye Ju Hua and Ju Hua. Camphor is the major constituent of both oils but is present at roughly two and a half times the proportion in C. indicum, and the C. indicum oil was the more biologically active in every assay in the head-to-head comparison. It is also the reason this herb is more pungent and more suited to topical and toxin-resolving use than the mild eye-and-Liver herb Ju Hua.
⚠ Drug Interactions
Ju Hua (Chrysanthemum morifolium) supplied or substituted for Ye Ju Hua, and the reverse
Practitioners meet these two as near-identical yellow flower heads under near-identical pinyin, and the substitution is routine. The only head-to-head chemical and biological comparison analysed both oils by GC/FID and GC/MS: camphor is the major constituent of both but accounts for 36.69 percent of the C. indicum oil and 14.56 percent of the C. morifolium oil, and C. indicum was more active in every assay run, showing notable antitrypanosomal activity at IC50 45.89 micrograms/mL, antimicrobial activity against Streptococcus agalactiae at MIC 62.5 micrograms/mL, and inhibition of vesicular stomatitis virus replication at IC50 3.14 micrograms/mL, against antioxidant IC50 values of 2.21 mg/mL for C. indicum and 2.59 mg/mL for C. morifolium. Say which species a source used: the germplasm and drying studies quoted throughout this record are on C. indicum (Chrysanthemi Indici Flos), and Chrysanthemi Indici Flos is standardised on linarin at not less than 0.8 percent, a marker not used for Ju Hua.
Clinical note: Order and check by binomial, not by pinyin. Do not apply a Ju Hua monograph's dose, or its reputation for mildness, to Ye Ju Hua. If a formula calls for the Liver-and-eyes action, that is Ju Hua; the toxin-resolving and topical sore action is Ye Ju Hua.
Asteraceae (Compositae) cross-sensitisation: ragweed, mugwort, chamomile, feverfew, arnica, marigold, purple coneflower
Chrysanthemum indicum is an Asteraceae flower head, and this herb is used both internally and topically on inflamed skin, which is the highest-risk route. Asteraceae are established occupational sensitisers producing both immediate and delayed hypersensitivity. Two mechanisms operate: panallergens in Asteraceae pollen drive cross-reactivity that underlies pollen-food and pollen-medicine allergy syndrome, and sesquiterpene lactones sensitise on skin contact, with extensive cross-reactivity between them and the capacity to provoke systemic reactions on ingestion in an already sensitised person.
Clinical note: Ask specifically about hay fever to ragweed or mugwort and about reactions to chamomile tea or arnica cream before prescribing, and especially before any topical or compress application. Patch test rather than treat if the history is equivocal.
Antihypertensive and glucose-lowering drugs
A buddleoside-rich Chrysanthemum indicum extract had hypotensive, hypoglycaemic and hypolipidaemic effects in animal models of diet-induced metabolic syndrome. This is a concentrated extract in animals, not the crude flower head in humans, and no clinical pharmacodynamic study exists, so no magnitude can be attached.
Clinical note: No routine action. If the patient is on a tightly titrated antihypertensive, ask them to check blood pressure at home for a fortnight after starting a Ye Ju Hua containing formula.
Dosage
| Form | Amount | Frequency | Duration | Population | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| decoction | 9–15 g | Daily | — | — | 中国药典 2020 【用法与用量】9～15g。外用适量，煎汤外洗或制膏外涂。 【性味与归经】苦、辛，微寒。归肝、心经。 — Chinese Pharmacopoeia 2020, quoted verbatim; route and cautions preserved. Replaces a cleared category-filler value. |
Evidence Tier
Moderate evidence · 4 studiesRecorded studies by study design, strongest design at the top. This is a study-design tier only, not a GRADE rating: it does not weigh risk of bias, consistency or precision.
Systematic review / meta-analysis
0
Randomized controlled trial
1
0 verified · 1 unverified
Other clinical trial
0
Observational / case report
0
In vitro / animal
3
1 verified · 2 unverified
Show 3 studies
- Chrysanthemum indicum and Chrysanthemum morifolium: Chemical Composition of Their Essential Oils and Their Potential Use as Natural Preservatives with Antimicrobial and Antioxidant Activities
- Buddleoside-rich Chrysanthemum indicum L. extract modulates macrophage-mediated inflammation to prevent metabolic syndrome induced by unhealthy diet
- Effect of different drying degrees on content of various chemical components and in vitro bioactivity of Chrysanthemi Indici Flos
Other / unclassified
0
Verified: design read from PubMed for a DOI that resolves to the cited paper Unverified: taken from the study's recorded description
Clinical Studies
Chrysanthemum indicum and Chrysanthemum morifolium: Chemical Composition of Their Essential Oils and Their Potential Use as Natural Preservatives with Antimicrobial and Antioxidant Activities
The species-discrimination study for this record. Essential oils of Chrysanthemum indicum and C. morifolium were compared by GC/FID and GC/MS and tested side by side. Camphor was the major constituent of both, at 36.69 percent in C. indicum and 14.56 percent in C. morifolium. C. indicum was biologically more active in every experiment: antitrypanosomal IC50 45.89 micrograms/mL, MIC 62.5 micrograms/mL against Streptococcus agalactiae, and inhibition of vesicular stomatitis virus replication at IC50 3.14 micrograms/mL, with both oils antioxidant at IC50 2.21 mg/mL (C. indicum) and 2.59 mg/mL (C. morifolium).
Buddleoside-rich Chrysanthemum indicum L. extract modulates macrophage-mediated inflammation to prevent metabolic syndrome induced by unhealthy diet
A buddleoside-rich Chrysanthemum indicum extract was tested for prevention of diet-induced metabolic syndrome. It was hypotensive, hypoglycaemic and hypolipidaemic, corrected the imbalance between macrophage subpopulations, blocked NF-kappaB signalling, reduced inflammatory mediator secretion, improved insulin resistance and protected liver and pancreas from inflammatory damage, with the mechanism confirmed in an LPS-induced macrophage model.
Efficacy and Safety of Ecklonia cava Kjellman Extract Complex in Respiratory Health: A Randomized, Double‐Blind, Placebo‐Controlled, Multicenter Clinical Trial
Read with care: this is a combination product, not a Chrysanthemum indicum monotherapy trial. 106 participants were randomised 1:1 to an Ecklonia cava extract complex containing C. indicum extract, or placebo, twice daily for 12 weeks. The breathlessness, cough and sputum scale total and its breathlessness and sputum components, FEV1, and cough and sputum visual analogue scores improved significantly against placebo; the St George's respiratory questionnaire and the modified MRC dyspnoea scale did not differ. No severe adverse events occurred. The contribution of C. indicum specifically cannot be separated from that of the seaweed extract, and the authors themselves attribute the result to the established pharmacology of Ecklonia cava.
Effect of different drying degrees on content of various chemical components and in vitro bioactivity of Chrysanthemi Indici Flos
Processing study, describing how the crude drug changes as it is dried rather than the raw flower alone. Fresh flower heads were dried at 60 degrees Celsius to a series of water contents. Chlorogenic acid and linarin fell significantly with drying; luteolin and kaempferol rose then fell, peaking at 40 percent water content; naringenin was highest at 80 percent water content. HPLC fingerprint similarity between the wettest and fully dried samples was only 0.559. Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity in vitro strengthened with drying. Extracts inhibited Staphylococcus aureus at MIC 1.560 to 3.125 mg/mL and Escherichia coli at MIC 3.125 mg/mL, but not Pseudomonas aeruginosa or Salmonella paratyphoid.
Historical Texts
Ben Cao Jing Ji Zhu (Collected Commentaries on the Classic of Materia Medica), Tao Hongjing
Southern and Northern dynasties, circa 500 CEBen Cao Gang Mu (Compendium of Materia Medica), Li Shizhen
Ming dynasty, 1596References
- Li J, Ye Z, Wei M, Deng C, Chi L, Xu L, Han Z, Wei W. Evaluation of Chrysanthemi Indici Flos germplasms based on nine bioactive constituents and color parameters . PLOS ONE (2023) [DOI]
- Ključevšek T, Kreft S. Allergic Potential of Medicinal Plants From the Asteraceae Family . Health Science Reports (2025) [DOI]
This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before using any herbal remedy, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, or taking medications.
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