Names: American Saffron, Bastard Saffron, Dyer's Saffron, Fake Saffron, False Saffron, Hing Hua, Honghua, Zaffer, Zafran. Carthamus tinctorius.  

Family: Asteraceae or Compositae.

Synonyms: zang hong hua or fan hong hua 藏紅花 即番紅花

Properties: Invigorates circulation, breaks up blood stasis condition, and promotes menstruation: rheumatoid arthritis, injuries from impact, swollen boils, irregular menses, pain in stopping of menses, pain from blood stasis after birth. Small amount can invigorate circulation and large amount can get rid of blood clots. It is an important herb in blood stasis therapy and often is prescribed with tao ren. To invigorate circulation, it is often used with dang gui, chuan xiong, shao yao. to rid of blood stasis, it is used with san leng, wo zhu, and da huang.

Indications:

measles with blood stasis, color not lively red: use hong hua, dang gui , zi cao, da qing ye
angina of coronary diseases: use hong hua, dan shen, chuan xiong, chi shao.
thromboangitis obliterans: use hong hua, dang gui , tao ren , chi shao, ru xiang
for treatment of enlargement of the liver and spleen.
For physical injuries with blood stasis and pain: broken bones, dislocated joints, sprains, and impact.

Modern Functions:

Cardio-vascular system
It can mildly stimulate the heart, lowers the resistance of coronary arteries, improves circulation and provides the amount of blood flow to the heart muscle and provides nutrition to the heart muscles. Large amount has an inhibitory effect.
Effect on platelets
It can prevent the coagulation of the platelets thus inhibits the formation of thrombosis.
Effect on uterus
Small amount can increase the rhythmic contraction of the pregnant uterus. Large amount can cause constriction and spasm.
Provides protection for the brain in case of oxygen deprivation. Studies show that it can increase the treshold of rat in oxygen deprivation
Lower lipids
anti-bacterial, anti-fungal,
analgesic,
diuretic,
immune stimulant,
anti-inflammatory
anti-spasmodic,
emmenagogue (induce menses flow),  
diaphoretic (induce perspiration),  
induce interferon

Additional Uses

Orally, Hong Hua/Safflower seed oil is used for reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease and preventing atherosclerosis.

In Chinese medicine, Hong Hua/Safflower flower is used for hyperemia in women and hair growth.

In folk medicine, Hong Hua/Safflower is used orally for fever, tumors, coughs, bronchial conditions, blood stasis, pain, blood invigoration, amenorrhea, painful menses, stimulating menstruation, coronary heart disease, chest pain, traumatic injuries, inducing sweating, as a laxative, purgative, stimulant, antiperspirant, abortifacient, and expectorant.

For food uses, safflower seed oil is used as a cooking oil.  

In manufacturing, safflower flower is used to color cosmetics and dye fabrics. Safflower seed oil is used as a paint solvent.

Samples of formulae:

Painful or blockage of menses: tao hong si wu tang (dan gui chuan xiong, di huang, shao yao, tao ren, hong hua). or use ge xia zhu yu tang
Painful abdomen due to blood stasis after birth: hong hua san, tuo hua jian
Painful joints, purpura, eczema: dang gui hong hua yin

Chemical ingredients:

carthamone, neocarthamin, carthamin, carthamone, glucose, carthamidin[1]. saffloryellow, saffloryellow-A[2].palmitic acid, myristic acid, lauric acid, stearic acid, Cinnamic acid, arachidic acid, oleic acid, linoleic acid, linolenic acid, polysaccharides, 15 alpha-20 beta-dihydroxy-delta4-pregnen-3-one, nonacosane, beta-sitosterol.

Dosage:  0.5 g to 2 g

Cautions:   not to use in cases of bleeding, heavy menses, pregnancy

Addendum:  zang hong hua (fan hong fa)

zang hong hua (fan hong fa) Crocus sativus L., product of Europe or Middle East and was imported through Xizang (Tibet). it is now also cultivated in China. It usage is the same as hong hua but stronger and possesses the effects of cooling the blood and rid of toxins. Dosage is 1 to 1.5 g  used in decoction.