Herb to Know: Safflower

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• Carthamus tinctorius
• (KAR-thuh-muss tink-TOR-ee-uss)
• Family Compositae
• Annual

Few herb gardeners grow safflower these days, though you might very well have a bottle of its seed oil sitting on a kitchen shelf or have eaten candy or other food dyed with its bright flowers. In past centuries, however, safflower was much cultivated as a dye plant and also used medicinally.

The genus Carthamus comprises fourteen annual and a few perennial herbs native to Asia and the Mediterranean region. The generic name comes from Arabic and Hebrew words meaning “to paint”.

C. tinctorius (tinctorius means “dyer’s”) is believed to be native to Central Asia. Plant remains found in Egyptian tombs date to 3500 b.c. The species was introduced into Europe from Egypt in 1551. It has been cultivated in China, Japan, India, and Egypt for its dye and is now cultivated in Europe and California for its seed oil.

Safflower is a thistly, upright plant that produces 3-foot-tall, smooth, branched stalks from a basal rosette. The plant is about 15 inches across. The alternate, ovate leaves are toothed with small spines and pointed at the tips. In June and July, each branch bears more than twelve flower heads 1 to 11/2 inches across. In each head, chaffy, prickly bracts surround a tuft of golden orange florets. Spineless varieties are available, as are those with white or yellow flowers. The oblong seeds, 1/4 inch long, look like little sunflower seeds.

Safflower has been called bastard, false, or poor man’s saffron because it has been used as a substitute or adulterant of true saffron (Crocus sativus), whose tiny, expensive stigmas provide an inimitable flavor as well as a vivid yellow dye. Although safflower flower heads may be used to color sauces and vinegars, their flavor is very bland compared to the real thing.

Uses For Safflower

Safflower is grown today mainly for its seed oil, which is high in polyunsaturated fatty acids; a diet high in polyunsaturates has been found to lower total blood cholesterol. The oil is also used in margarines and salad oils, as well as in the manufacture of paints, varnishes, and soaps.

The powdered dried flowers have been mixed with talcum powder to make rouge, and they have been used to add reddish color to food and liqueurs. The Chinese dyed silk with safflower, and the Egyptians produced brilliant red linen cloth from the plant. Textiles found in the tomb of King Tutankhamen are believed to have been dyed with safflower.

Two dyes for fibers can be extracted from a batch of flowers. A yellow dyebath is obtained by soaking the flowers in a mild vinegar solution for a few hours or overnight. Using alum as a mordant also produces yellow. To get a red, the flowers from the yellow dyebath are rinsed and soaked again for a few hours in an alkaline solution of ammonia or washing soda, then vinegar is added to neutralize the dyebath and turn it bright red. More detailed instructions can be found in A Weaver’s Garden, by Rita Buchanan (Interweave Press, 1987).

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