Globe Amaranth Flower qiān rì hóng · 千日红

Safety. Say plainly what this is: a widely grown ornamental flower with a thin medicinal literature, recorded in regional herbals and sold as a tisane. The traditional uses above have not been established by clinical research, and this article claims no benefit from them. The flower is commonly drunk as a herbal tea, which makes the usual assumption — that anything sold as a tea is safe — worth stating as an assumption rather than a fact: the safety literature on this flower is not substantial. Allergic reaction is possible with any asteraceous or amaranthaceous flower pollen and dust, and dried flower heads may carry dust, pesticide residue or adulterant petals depending on where they were packed. Avoid in pregnancy and breastfeeding. A cough in a child, a whooping cough, or breathlessness is a matter for conventional assessment, not for a flower tea; whooping cough in particular is a serious illness in infants and is not something to self-manage.