Chrysanthemum

Chrysanthemum is a genus of perennial herbaceous flowering plants, occasionally subshrubs, in the family Asteraceae, that bloom in autumn; Plants of the World Online recognizes roughly 40 or more accepted species as of September 2025. The genus is native to East Asia and northeastern Europe, with China as its center of diversity, and shows alternate leaves divided into leaflets that may be pinnatisect, lobed or serrate, with hairy stalks, and flowers with ray florets in white, yellow or red around yellow disc florets. Chrysanthemums have a long cultivation history, with over 500 cultivars recorded in China by 1630 and an estimated 20,000 or more cultivars worldwide by 2014, used ornamentally, in chrysanthemum tea, as a source of the insecticide pyrethrum, and studied by NASA for air-purification properties.