中文名（Chinese Name）：红花
学名（Scientific Name）：Carthamus tinctorius L.
英文名（English Common Name）：safflower
别名（Chinese Common Name）：红蓝花、刺红花
异名（Synonym）：Calcitrapa tinctoria   Carthamus glaber Burm.f.  Centaurea carthamus E.H.L.Krause  Carthamus tinctorius var. albus Alef.  Carthamus tinctorius var. croceus Alef.  Carthamus tinctorius var. flavus Alef.  Carthamus tinctorius var. spinosus Kitam.
科属（Family & Genus）：菊科（Compositae）红花属
形态特征（Description）：一年生草本。高 (20)50-100(150) 厘米。茎直立，上部分枝，全部茎枝白色或淡白色，光滑，无毛。中下部茎叶披针形、披状披针形或长椭圆形，长7-15厘米，宽2.5-6厘米，边缘大锯齿、重锯齿、小锯齿以至无锯齿而全缘，极少有羽状深裂的，齿顶有针刺，针刺长1-1.5毫米，向上的叶渐小，披针形，边缘有锯齿，齿顶针刺较长，长达3毫米。全部叶质地坚硬，革质，两面无毛无腺点，有光泽，基部无柄，半抱茎。头状花序多数，在茎枝顶端排成伞房花序，为苞叶所围绕，苞片椭圆形或卵状披针形，包括顶端针刺长2.5-3厘米，边缘有针刺，针刺长1-3毫米，或无针刺，顶端渐长，有篦齿状针刺，针刺长2毫米。总苞卵形，直径2.5厘米。总苞片4 层，外层竖琴状，中部或下部有收溢，收缢以上叶质，绿色，边缘无针刺或有篦齿状针刺，针刺长达3毫米，顶端渐尖，有长1-2毫米，收溢以下黄白色；中内层硬膜质，倒披针状椭圆形至长倒披针形，长达2.2厘米，顶端渐尖。全部苞片无毛无腺点。小花红色、桔红色，全部为两性，花冠长2.8厘米，细管部长2厘米，花冠裂片几达檐部基部。瘦果倒卵形，长5.5毫米，宽5毫米，乳白色，有4 棱，棱在果顶伸出，侧生着生面。无冠毛。花果期5-8月。
分布（Distribution）：原产中亚地区，我国南北均有栽培，在部分地区已逸生。
用途（Use）：红花的花入药，通经、活血，主治妇女病。花含红色素，也是我国古代用以提供红色染织物的色素原料。
引自中国植物志英文版FOC Vol. 20-21 Page 190, 191
Carthamus tinctorius Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 2: 830. 1753.
红花 hong hua | Asteraceae  | Carthamus
Herbs (20-)50-100(-150) cm tall, annual. Stem erect, apically branched; stem and branches white or whitish, smooth, glabrous. Leaves rigid, leathery, glabrous. Lower and middle stem leaves sessile, lanceolate, ovate-lanceolate, or elliptic, simple, 7-15 × 2.5-6 cm, base attenuate and semiamplexicaul, margin spinosely toothed or entire, apex acute; teeth very rarely pinnatipartite, apically with 1-1.5 mm spinules. Upper stem leaves lanceolate, decreasing in size upward, margin spinosely toothed; teeth apically with a ca. 3 mm spine. Capitula few to many, in a corymbose synflorescence, rarely 1. Involucre ovoid, ca. 2.5 cm in diam. Phyllaries in ca. 5 rows; outer phyllaries leaflike, ovate-lanceolate, 2-4 × ca. 1 cm, spiny; middle phyllaries 6-20 × 4-7 mm, constricted between pale parallel-veined basal part and leaflike apical part with green reticulate veins; inner phyllaries oblanceolate-elliptic to oblanceolate, ca. 22 × 5 mm, rigidly scarious, apex attenuate. Corolla red to orange, ca. 2.8 cm. Achene ovoid to ellipsoid, ca. 5.5 mm, 4-angled. Pappus absent. Fl. and fr. May-Aug. 2n = 24*.
Widely cultivated in China and occasionally naturalized in saline and alkaline soils in dry and cold conditions in Gansu, Guizhou, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Jiangsu, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Xinjiang, Xizang, Zhejiang [native origin unknown; widely cultivated].
The seeds of Carthamus tinctorius yield edible oil, and the florets are used medicinally or for extracting a red pigment used as dye. Because of its long cultivation, the precise origin is uncertain although it is probably SW Asia.（责任编辑：徐晔春）