Chrysanthemum for Boils

Does Chrysanthemum help with boils? It has a real but supporting role. Ayurvedic tradition uses the very bitter indicum variety for hot, inflamed and suppurating skin problems, which includes boils, and lists the flower as a herb that alleviates skin conditions (Kushthaghna).

Ayurveda sees a boil as heat in the blood. Pitta, the dosha of fire and transformation, overheats the blood tissue (Rakta Dhatu), often with a sluggish gut or an overloaded liver behind it, and the excess comes out through the skin.

Chrysanthemum fits that picture closely. It is bitter and sweet in taste, cooling in potency (Sheeta Virya), and light and dry in quality. It calms both Pitta and Kapha, acts on the plasma and blood tissues, and is described as going straight to the eyes and skin by way of the liver.

Chrysanthemum works on boils through the blood and the liver. Its cooling potency and bitter taste counter the heat that Pitta carries in the blood, and it is described as calming and cooling to Pitta (Pittashamaka). Its mild bitterness is said to increase liver function, which matters because Ayurveda names a toxic, overloaded liver as one cause of boils.

The texture of the boil matters too. Tradition says the indicum variety is used for skin problems caused by aggravated Pitta and Kapha together. Pitta brings the heat, redness and pain; Kapha brings the swelling and pus. Because Chrysanthemum is light and dry and pacifies both doshas, it suits the hot, swollen, pus-forming boil better than many cooling herbs that would add heaviness.

The flowers contain flavones such as luteolin, apigenin and acacetin, along with a volatile oil that includes camphor and borneol. Our sources include no clinical studies of Chrysanthemum for boils.

For boils, use the more bitter Chrysanthemum indicum, which tradition describes as better suited to hot, inflamed skin than the sweeter morifolium variety. Take it internally as a tea of the dried flowers.

Hot or Cold?

The tea can be drunk hot or cold. For a hot, throbbing Pitta boil, a cooled infusion through the day is a natural choice.

Liver Support

To regulate liver flow and cool Pitta, tradition combines Chrysanthemum with licorice, peppermint and nut grass (Musta). A little licorice and peppermint in the tea follows this pairing.

How Long

Our sources give no set course for boils. Use it while the boil is active and for a short period after, and stop if you notice dryness, anxiety or restlessness, which are signs that Vata is rising.

If you want to start using Chrysanthemum for boils today, here is the simplest starting point.

The best form is dried Chrysanthemum flowers for tea, because the infusion is the traditional way to take this cooling herb and it lets you stay within the 3 to 9 gram daily range.

Kitchen Version

Steep 2 teaspoons of dried flowers in a cup of hot water, strain, and drink it warm or cooled. Have two or three cups through the day while the boil is active.

Match It to the Pattern

If the boil is hot, red and throbbing (Pitta): drink the tea cooled. If it is swollen and full of pus (Pitta with Kapha): the bitter indicum variety is the better match.

Find Chrysanthemum on Amazon ↗ Licorice Root Tea ↗

Safety: avoid it in pregnancy, and see a doctor for a boil with fever, red streaks spreading from it, or one on the nose or upper lip.