Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius): Uses, Evidence and Safety
Safflower flower (Carthamus tinctorius, hong hua): what is known about its use in Chinese medicine, the thin human evidence, and bleeding, pregnancy and allergy cautions.
Content last updated . This page has not been medically reviewed.
Safety first. Natural products can cause side effects and interact with medicines. Read herb safety and interactions before you use anything on this page.
What is Safflower good for?
What the body uses it for, and how strong the evidence is. A normal job in the body is not proof that extra supplements add benefit; each card says which.
Unstable angina (two-herb hospital injection)
Preliminary or mixedA meta-analysis of 46 trials of Danhong injection, which combines safflower and danshen extracts, found lower blood markers of inflammation and vessel-lining stress in people with unstable angina. The authors rated the original trials as low quality.
Supplements: Not shown for safflower flower taken by mouth.
Traditional use to move blood and relieve pain
Not enough evidenceIn Chinese medicine the flower is used to move the blood, clear blood stasis and ease pain, including menstrual problems and wounds.
Supplements: No good human trial evidence for these uses in the sources read.
Heart-injury protection in animals (HSYA)
Lab or animal research onlyA meta-analysis of animal studies of the safflower pigment hydroxysafflor yellow A found effects in models of heart injury, but none of the studies assessed safety.
Supplements: Not shown in people.
Antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and liver-protective findings
Lab or animal research onlyLaboratory and animal studies of safflower extracts and compounds report antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, liver-protective and anti-cancer effects. The review says how they work is poorly understood.
Supplements: Not shown in people.
Menstrual and women's health uses
Not enough evidenceChinese medicine uses safflower for menstrual disorders. The review describes one small trial in postmenopausal women using seed or tea, with few details.
Supplements: No good evidence in the sources read.
Anxiety, depression and mood
Not enough evidenceThe 2025 review mentions a systematic review and an uncontrolled survey on anxiety and depression, with few details.
Supplements: No good evidence in the sources read.
Connected topics
Open a group to see how each topic connects and how strong the evidence is.
Root causes (1)
- Medication Side EffectsDocumented risk
A consumer drug reference flags blood thinners and antiplatelet drugs as medicines to check with safflower flower; interactions are poorly understood. Ask a pharmacist.
Documented risks and interactions (4)
- Bleeding risk and blood thinners. A consumer drug reference lists blood thinners and antiplatelet drugs as medicines to check with safflower flower. A 2025 review reports longer clotting time and less platelet clumping in laboratory work.
- Pregnancy and breastfeeding not established. The consumer reference says it is not known whether flower products affect pregnancy, and not known whether safflower passes into breast milk.
- Allergy, including daisy-family cross-reaction. Severe allergic reactions are possible. People allergic to daisy-family plants such as ragweed, chamomile, marigold, yarrow or arnica may be more likely to react.
- Quality, identification and substitutes. The Chinese Pharmacopoeia identifies safflower only by microscope and thin-layer chromatography, and the 2025 review calls for better authenticity checks and notes confusion with substitutes.
Safety first: safflower flower is not safflower oil, and it may affect bleeding
This page is about the dried flower (hong hua in Chinese medicine) and products made from it. It is not about the cooking oil pressed from the seeds, which is a separate product with a different safety picture. [1] A consumer drug reference lists blood thinners and antiplatelet drugs (such as aspirin, clopidogrel and ticagrelor) as medicines to check before using safflower flower, and says research on interactions is incomplete. [1] A 2025 review reports that some safflower compounds lengthened clotting time and reduced platelet clumping in laboratory work, which is the reason bleeding is a concern. [3] The same consumer reference says it is not known whether flower products are safe in pregnancy or breastfeeding, and warns that severe allergic reactions are possible, mainly in people allergic to daisy-family plants. [1] This is information, not a recommendation. Tell your prescriber, pharmacist and surgical team about any safflower product. See how herbs and blood thinners interact, herbs before and after surgery and herbs in pregnancy.Overview
Safflower is Carthamus tinctorius L., a plant in the daisy family (Asteraceae). GBIF lists this as the accepted name. [2] The part used in Chinese medicine is the flower (Flos Carthami, hong hua). [3] Safflower has also been used for centuries as a dye, a food colouring and in cosmetics. [3] Its native range was not found in the sources we read. Do not confuse it with saffron (Crocus sativus), a different plant; safflower petals are one of the things sometimes used to cheat in saffron sales. See saffron. Research on the flower often focuses on a yellow pigment called hydroxysafflor yellow A (HSYA), which is also used as a marker of quality in the 2020 Chinese Pharmacopoeia. [5] This page covers the flower, its extracts and the injectable product combinations only where the sources describe them.Traditional use (not proof of benefit)
In Chinese medicine safflower is used to "move the blood", clear what the tradition calls blood stasis and ease pain, including for menstrual problems and wounds. [3] Persian, Indian and Thai traditions used it for skin conditions, digestive complaints, arthritis and hair colouring, among other things. [3] These uses rest on long use, not on trial results. For the broader tradition see Chinese herbal medicine and danshen, the herb often paired with it in China.What research shows
Human research on safflower flower is limited and mostly from China. The best-developed lines of research are on injections and extracts that are not sold as ordinary supplements in the US. [1]| Use | What the sources found | Strength of evidence | Form and population |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unstable angina (chest pain from the heart) | A 2025 meta-analysis of 46 trials (4,601 patients) tested Danhong injection, which combines safflower and danshen extracts. It found lower blood markers of inflammation and vessel-lining stress compared with controls. The authors judged the original studies to be low quality. [4] | Insufficient evidence (low-quality trials; cannot tell which herb did what) | Hospital injection of a two-herb product; people with angina |
| Heart disease from the flower alone | A 2025 meta-analysis found animal studies of HSYA in heart injury, with no safety data and no human trials reviewed. [5] | Lab and animal findings only | Isolated compound in rats and mice |
| Diabetes, liver, circulation, sudden deafness and other conditions | A 2025 review lists clinical uses of safflower components in China, but describes most human studies only briefly, without trial design or quality checks. [3] | Insufficient evidence | Various Chinese products |
| Anxiety, depression, menopause symptoms | The same review mentions a systematic review, a small trial and an uncontrolled survey, with few details. [3] | Insufficient evidence | Seed, tea and flower products |
| Cancer, liver scarring, brain protection | Cell and animal studies only in the sources we read. [3] | Lab and animal findings only | Extracts and isolated compounds |
Reviews of safflower agree that more and better human studies are needed and that how the plant works is poorly understood. [3] Proper evidence not found in the sources we read for safflower tea or capsules sold as supplements. Proper evidence also not found for any oral safflower product preventing heart attack or stroke.
Forms and why the form matters
The flower is used dried in decoctions and teas, as extracts, and as an ingredient in Chinese patent medicines and injections. [3] An injection given in a hospital is a different thing from a tea; one trial result should not be carried over to the other. The injectable safflower yellow used in China is not available in the US. [1] Quality can vary: the Chinese Pharmacopoeia relies on only microscope and thin-layer chromatography tests to identify safflower, and a 2025 review calls for better authenticity checks and notes confusion with substitutes. [3] Safflower oil from seeds is a different product; a consumer reference says the oil seems well tolerated in cooking and is generally recognised as safe by the FDA. [1] Seed oil is discussed in seed oils and omega-6 claims checked.Safety in more detail
- Side effects: a consumer drug reference says research is not enough to know what side effects the flower causes. [1] Serious allergic reactions (breathing trouble, face or throat swelling, hives) are possible. [1]
- Medicines: blood thinners and antiplatelet drugs are the main group flagged. [1] Interactions are poorly understood. [1] A pharmacist can help. See supplements and blood thinners.
- Bleeding disorders and surgery: laboratory findings of longer clotting time and less platelet clumping support caution. [3] We did not find a surgery-timing statement in sources we read from a medical authority. See supplements before surgery.
- Pregnancy: the consumer reference says it is not known whether flower products could affect pregnancy. [1] The 2025 review mentions that some plants in the daisy family were traditionally used to bring on abortion, without giving details for safflower. [3] Proper evidence of safety in pregnancy not found in the sources we read, so this is a topic for a midwife or doctor.
- Breastfeeding: it is not known whether safflower passes into breast milk. [1]
- Children: Proper evidence not found in the sources we read.
- Liver and kidney: we could not read NIH's LiverTox entry (the site blocked access), so we make no claim. One trial of seed or tea reported no liver toxicity, per a review, but the details were not available. [3]
- Allergy: people allergic to safflower or daisy-family plants (arnica, marigold, chamomile, yarrow, ragweed) may be more likely to react. [1]
- Quality and contamination: identification tests are limited and substitutes exist. [3] See quality testing and certifications.
Official statements
- FDA (US), as reported by a consumer drug reference: the FDA has not reviewed the safety or effectiveness of safflower flower, while safflower oil is generally recognised as safe as a food. [1]
- Chinese Pharmacopoeia (2020), as reported in a 2025 review: sets HSYA as the quality marker for safflower. [5]
- We did not find a European Medicines Agency herbal monograph or a US NCCIH or Memorial Sloan Kettering page for safflower flower (the pages returned "not found").
Related pages
Frequently asked questions
Is safflower the same as saffron?
No. Safflower is Carthamus tinctorius (daisy family); saffron is Crocus sativus. Safflower is named on our saffron page as one of the things used to adulterate saffron. See saffron.
Is safflower oil the same as the flower?
No. The oil comes from the seeds and is a cooking ingredient; the flower is used in supplements and Chinese medicine, and is far less studied. [1]
Does safflower thin the blood?
Laboratory findings point to slower clotting and less platelet clumping, and a consumer reference lists blood thinners as medicines to check. [3][1] Human evidence on bleeding was not found in the sources we read. Ask a pharmacist.
Is safflower flower safe in pregnancy?
Not known. A consumer reference says it is unknown whether flower products affect pregnancy, and we found no authoritative statement of safety. [1] Check with a midwife or doctor.
Does it help heart disease?
A meta-analysis of a two-herb injection (safflower and danshen) for unstable angina found better blood markers, but the trials were low quality. [4] Evidence for safflower alone in people was not found.
References
- Consumer drug reference (WebMD). Safflower. Used only for safety statements not found elsewhere. Read 2026-10-23.
- GBIF Secretariat. GBIF Backbone Taxonomy species match: Carthamus tinctorius L. Accepted name, family Asteraceae. Read 2026-10-23.
- Bai H, Yang J, Wang R. Carthamus tinctorius L.: a comprehensive review of its ethnomedicine, phytochemistry, pharmacology, and clinical applications. Frontiers in Pharmacology, 2025. PMID 40918514. First 100,000 characters read 2026-10-23.
- Kan Z, Yan W, Chen C, Gao H, Song Y. Danhong injection and inflammatory and endothelial markers in unstable angina: systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in Pharmacology, 2025. Europe PMC record, PMID 40584629. Abstract read 2026-10-23.
- Mao T, et al. Hydroxysafflor yellow A for ischemic heart diseases: a systematic review and meta-analysis of animal experiments. Frontiers in Pharmacology, 2025. First 100,000 characters read 2026-10-23.