Chrysanthemum

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About Chrysanthemum
Wikipedia Article About Chrysanthemum on Wikipedia

Chrysanthemum is a genus of about 30 species of perennial flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, native to Asia and northeastern Europe.

The genus once included many more species, but was split several decades ago into several genera; the naming of the genera has been contentious, but a ruling of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature in 1999 has resulted in the defining species of the genus being changed to Chrysanthemum indicum, thereby restoring the economically important florist's chrysanthemum to the genus Chrysanthemum. These species were, after the splitting of the genus but before the ICBN ruling, commonly treated under the genus name Dendranthema.

The other species previously treated in the narrow view of the genus Chrysanthemum are now transferred to the genus Glebionis. The other genera split off from Chrysanthemum include Argyranthemum, Leucanthemopsis, Leucanthemum, Rhodanthemum, and Tanacetum.

The species of Chrysanthemum are herbaceous perennial plants growing to 50-150 cm tall, with deeply lobed leaves and large flowerheads, white, yellow or pink in the wild species.

Chrysanthemum species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species - see list of Lepidoptera which feed on Chrysanthemum.

Buying Chrysanthemum
Although Chrysanthemum is one of the most popular vegetables used in different dishes, you can get it for a very reasonable price. If you are cooking for a large family, you will want to purchase larger quantities of Chrysanthemum and store them properly. The cost of this vegetable varies depending on many different factors, such as marketplace location, local competition, type of Chrysanthemum that you want to purchase and so on. An older Chrysanthemum will most likely cost less than a freshly picked one, but this also depends on where you buy it from, as some stores might not differentiate their vegetables like this.