The Composition of chrysanthemum extracts and their pharmacological functions

Chrysanthemum is a widely planted cash crop worldwide, due to its high ornamental and medicinal values. In addition, as a frequently used material in traditional Chinese medicine, studies have revealed that chrysanthemum extracts are complicated mixtures of flavonoids, volatile oils, organic acids, polysaccharides and other minor components, which possess pharmacological effects against many pathological conditions such as toxin-induced cell loss, bacterial infection-induced inflammation, reactive oxygen species-induced oxidative stress and tumor formation induced by various stimuli. In this mini review, we collected and summarized the current understanding on the composition and pharmacology of chrysanthemum extracts originally published in both Chinese and English, and aimed to broaden the readership, in order to build up the basis for eliciting more valuable investigations in this topic.