This is such an interesting and unusual flower. It’s thick velvety fanlike petals look out of place when you see it in a garden, as if it’s thick velvet exterior should be upholstering a chair in your living instead. This one is growing in the side garden between me and my neighbor’s house, sprinkling the area with it;s luscious richness.
I love that she is not simply a pretty face, beautifying a garden space, but that she is a strong medicinal herb in her own right as well. In Chinese she is called ji guan hua, or the literal translation of chicken crown flower. This plant is celosia and is in the amaranth family. That would be the same amaranth family that includes the healthy whole grain by the same name. I am not sure of the exact species of the plant in the picture, but I am sure she is coxcomb. She is essentially cooling and drying energetically. In Chinese medicine, she is used to restrain and stop bleeding and cool the blood. She is used in combination with different herbs for conditions like uterine bleeding, hemorrhoids, urinary bleeding, vomiting or coughing up blood, or dysentery with blood.
Traditional herbal healing systems like Chinese medicine are so intuitive. They look to the idea of doctrine of signatures, which is basically the language plants use to communicate with us about how they can best be of use for human health issues. So in coxcomb’s case, she can come in a variety of colors (although I personally have only seen this red version). The red version as in the picture above is considered superior for blood level issues like the bleeding disorders described earlier. When you look at the her texture and color, it invokes the imagery of blood. I am looking forward to spending more time with her in the following days to discover as much as I can about her unique qualities and healing capabilities.
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