Safflower

Scientific classification

Kingdom: Plantae

(unranked): Angiosperms

(unranked): Eudicots

(unranked): Asterids

Order: Asterales

Family: Asteraceae

Tribe: Cynareae

Genus: Carthamus

Species: C. tinctorius

Binomial name

Carthamus tinctorius

L. [1]

SafflowerFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) is a highly branched,herbaceous, thistle-like annual plant. It is commercially cultivatedfor vegetable oil extracted from the seeds. Plants are 30 to 150 cm(12 to 59 in) tall with globular flower heads having yellow, orange,or red flowers. Each branch will usually have from one to fiveflower heads containing 15 to 20 seeds per head. Safflower is nativeto arid environments having seasonal rain. It grows a deep taprootwhich enables it to thrive in such environments.

Contents

1 History2 Production3 Uses

3.1 Seed3.2 Oil3.3 Flower3.4 Transgenics

4 Cultivation5 See also6 Notes7 External links

History

Safflower is one of humanity's oldest crops. Chemical analysis ofancient Egyptian textiles dated to the Twelfth dynasty identified dyes made from safflower, and garlandsmade from safflowers were found in the tomb of the pharaoh Tutankhamun.[2] John Chadwick reports thatthe Greek name for safflower occurs many times in Linear B tablets, distinguished into two kinds: a whitesafflower (ka-na-ko re-u-ka, 'knākos leukā'), which is measured, and red (ka-na-ko e-ru-ta-ra, 'knākoseruthrā') which is weighed. "The explanation is that there are two parts of the plant which can be used; thepale seeds and the red florets."[3]

Safflower was also known as carthamine in the nineteenth century.[4]

Production

Carthamus tinctorius

It is a minor crop today, with about 600,000 tons being produced commercially in more than sixty countriesworldwide. India,[5] United States, and Mexico are the leading producers, with Ethiopia, Kazakhstan,China, the Arab World, Argentina and Australia accounting for most of the remainder.

Other names include Sallflower, Beni, Chimichanga, or Carthamus tinctorius.

Uses

Traditionally, the crop was grown for its seeds, and used for coloring and flavoring foods, in medicines, andmaking red (carthamin) and yellow dyes, especially before cheaper aniline dyes became available.[2] Forthe last fifty years or so, the plant has been cultivated mainlyfor the vegetable oil extracted from its seeds.

Seed

Safflower seed oil is flavorless and colorless, and nutritionallysimilar to sunflower oil. It is used mainly in cosmetics and as acooking oil, in salad dressing, and for the production ofmargarine. It may also be taken as a nutritionalsupplement.[6]INCI nomenclature is Carthamus tinctorius.

Safflower seed is also used quite commonly as an alternative tosunflower seed in birdfeeders, as squirrels do not like the tasteof it.[7]

Oil

There are two types of safflower that produce different kinds ofoil: one high in monounsaturated fatty acid (oleic acid) and theother high in polyunsaturated fatty acid (linoleic acid).Currently the predominant edible oil market is for the former,which is lower in saturates than olive oil, for example. Thelatter is used in painting in the place of linseed oil, particularlywith white paints, as it does not have the yellow tint whichlinseed oil possesses.

In dietary use, high–linoleic safflower oil has also been shown to increase adiponectin, a protein that helpsregulate blood glucose levels and fatty-acid breakdown.[8] During a 16-week, double-blind controlled studyconducted at The Ohio State University, researchers compared high-linoleic safflower oil (SAF) withconjugated linoleic acid (CLA).[9] They studied post-menopausal women who had high blood sugar andwanted to lose weight. These participants showed an average reduction of 6.3 percent belly fat and anaverage of 20.3 percent increase in the important belly fat hormone, adiponectin.

A study published in the BMJ [10] reported an analysis of data recovered from a randomized controlled trialperformed in 1966-73 where safflower oil replaced animal fats in the diets of people who had had a heartattack. The group receiving extra safflower oil in place of animal fats had a significantly higher risk of

Worldwide safflower production

Carthamus tinctorius - MHNT

Safflower purchased at a market inTurkey

death from all causes, cardiovascular disease andcoronary heart disease. As expected, increasing omega-6 linoleic acid from safflower oil in the Sydney DietHeart Study significantly reduced total cholesterol;however, these reductions were not associated with[reduced] mortality outcomes. Moreover, the increasedrisk of death in the intervention group presented fairlyrapidly and persisted throughout the trial.

Inclusion of the intervention data from theSydney Diet Heart Study.

An updated meta-analysis of polyunsaturated fatty acid interventiontrials showed trends toward increased risks of death from coronaryheart disease and cardiovascular disease from increasing omega-6linoleic acid intakes suggesting that the cardiovascular benefits ofpolyunsaturated fatty acids may be attributable to omega-3polyunsaturated fats.

In culinary use, safflower oil compares favorably with othervegetable oils with its high smoke point.

Flower

Safflower flowers are occasionally used in cooking as a cheapersubstitute for saffron, and were sometimes referred to as "bastardsaffron".[11]

In coloring textiles, safflower's dried flowers are used as a naturaltextile dye. The pigment in safflower is the benzoquinone-derivedchemical carthamin and it is classified as a quinone-type dye. It is adirect dye which is also known as CI Natural Red 26. Yellow,mustard, khaki, and olive are the most common colors in textiles.Even bright reds and purples can be reached using alkalineprocessing. Indians used this red dye as their official red tape onlegal documents.[12] All hydrophilic fibers (all natural fibers, suchas cotton, wool, etc.) may be dyed with this plant. Polyamidetextiles can also be dyed without a mordant agent because of its wool-like chemical structure. Polyester,polyacrylonitrile, and others which are hydrophobic synthetic fibers can be dyed only in the presence of amordant.

Safflower concentrate is an ingredient of the carbonated soft drink Tizer and some types of Sunkist.

Ancient Egyptians found the flower pleasing to the eye and included it in garlands placed on mummies.[12]

Dried safflower flowers (草紅花 caohonghua, 紅花 honghua) are used in traditional Chinese medicine toalleviate pain, increase circulation, and reduce bruising.[13] They are included in herbal remedies for

Safflower oil as a medium for oilcolours

menstrual pain and minor physical trauma.[14] In India, the flowersare used for their laxative and diaphoretic properties, and are alsoused for children's complaints of measles, fevers and eruptive skinconditions.[12]

Transgenics

The defunct pharmaceutical company SemBioSys Genetics tried touse transgenic safflower plants to produce human insulin as theglobal demand for the hormone grows. Safflower-derived humaninsulin was in the PI/II trials on human test subjects.[15]

Cultivation

The safflower, an annual plant, is native to a climate with a long dry season and a limited rainy season. Itsdefenses are very poor against numerous fungal diseases in rainy conditions, after its seedling stage. Thisgreatly restricts the areas in which it can be grown commercially around the globe.[16] See List of safflowerdiseases. The plant is also very susceptible to frost injury (from stem elongation to maturity).

See also

Chinese herbologyConjugated linoleic acidSafflower PrincessTsheringma

Notes

1. ^ http://www.tropicos.org/Name/2700365

2. ^ a b Daniel Zohary and Maria Hopf, Domestication of plants in the Old World, third edition (Oxford: UniversityPress, 2000), p. 211

3. ^ John Chadwick, The Mycenaean World (Cambridge: University Press, 1976), p. 1204. ^ De Candolle, Alphonse. (1885.)Origin of cultivated plants. (http://books.google.com/books?

id=g_gCAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA165&dq=carthamine#PPA164,M1) D. Appleton & Co.: New York, p. 164.Retrieved on 2007-09-25.

5. ^ [1] (http://www.australianoilseeds.com/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/6743/Final_Nimbkar_paper.pdf) Issues insafflower production in India

6. ^ http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-96-SAFFLOWER.aspx?activeIngredientId=96&activeIngredientName=SAFFLOWER

7. ^ http://www.ebirdseed.com/safflower.html8. ^ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14521947

Wikimedia Commons hasmedia related to Carthamustinctorius.

Safflower Oil and Weightloss (http://cdn.myrebody.com/fileserv/am-j-clin-nutr-2009-90-468.pdf)Safflower Oil Comparison (http://cdn.myrebody.com/fileserv/am-j-clin-nutr-2009-90-468.pdf)

External links

Complementary and Alternative Healing University (ChineseHerbology)(http://alternativehealing.org/carthamus_tinctorius.htm)Ahmed M. Zahran, M. F. Omran, S. Z. Mansour and N. K. Ibrahim. Effectiveness of Carthamustinctorius L. in the Restitution of Lipid Composition in Irradiated Rats. Egypt. J. Rad. Sci. Applic.,20(1) 75-94 (2007).Safflower production (in the United States)(http://www.ext.nodak.edu/extpubs/plantsci/crops/a870w.htm)Safflower field crops manual (http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/afcm/safflower.html)UN FAO statistics on safflower production (http://www.fao.org/es/ess/top/commodity.jsp?lang=EN&commodity=280&CommodityList=280&year=2002&yearLyst=2002)Globe and Mail: "Calgary firm turns safflower into insulin"

9. ^ Norris, LE; Collene, AL; Asp, ML; Hsu, JC; Liu, LF; Richardson, JR; Li, D, et al. (September 2009)."Comparison of dietary conjugated linoleic acid with safflower oil on body composition in obesepostmenopausal women with type 2 diabetes mellitus."(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2728639). The American journal of clinical nutrition 90 (3):468–76. doi:10.3945/ajcn.2008.27371 (http://dx.doi.org/10.3945%2Fajcn.2008.27371). PMC 2728639(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2728639). PMID 19535429(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19535429).

10. ^ http://www.bmj.com/content/346/bmj.e870711. ^ E.g. "safflower" in Webster's Dictionary, year 1828 (http://machaut.uchicago.edu/?

resource=Webster%27s&word=safflower&use1828=on). E.g. "bastard saffron" in The Herball, or GeneralHistorie of Plantes (http://archive.org/stream/mobot31753000817749#page/1006/mode/1up), by John Gerarde,year 1597, pages 1006-1007.

12. ^ a b c Dweck, Anthony C. (ed.) (June 2009), Nature provides huge range of colour possibilities(http://www.dweckdata.com/Published_papers/Colour_ACD_part_1.pdf), Personal Care Magazine, pp. 61–73,retrieved 30 Oct 2012

13. ^ http://www.acupuncturetoday.com/herbcentral/safflower.php14. ^ 雷载权; 陈松育、高学敏 (1995). 中药学. 上海科学技术出版社. p. 206. ISBN 7-5323-3706-5.15. ^ Phillip Stephan, SemBioSys Genetics Inc, product bulletin June 2008. http://www.sembiosys.com/pdf/SBS-

1723-Product-FS(Insulin).pdf sembiosys.com16. ^ Book Safflower (http://books.google.com/books?

id=G7c5xQwhtIAC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=false), By Joseph RonstadtSmith, year 1996, including chapter 6: "Developmental Research".

(http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060719.wxinsulin19/BNStory/specialScienceandHealth/home)List of Chemicals in Safflower (Dr. Duke's Databases) (http://sun.ars-grin.gov:8080/npgspub/xsql/duke/plantdisp.xsql?taxon=210)The Paulden F. Knowles personal history of safflower germplasm exploration and use(http://ucanr.org/sites/plantbreeding/files/151269.pdf)

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Categories: Plant dyes Food colorings Cooking oils Carthamus Medicinal plants Vegetable oilsPlants used in traditional Chinese medicine Plants used in Ayurveda Flora of Nepal Flora of IndiaPlants described in 1753

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