The Enduring Allure of the Chrysanthemum: From Imperial Emblem to Autumn Icon
Photo Credit: Yoksel Zok via Unsplash
There’s a moment each autumn when the garden exhales — when bright summer blooms retreat and the air grows crisp enough to hint at change. And just as color seems ready to fade, the chrysanthemum steps forward. Radiant, sculptural, and resolutely cheerful, this flower has been brightening the season for over three thousand years. Its story is one of empire and art, medicine and memory — and of how a humble herb from China became one of the world’s most meaningful and enduring blooms.
Roots in Ancient China
The chrysanthemum’s story begins in China, where written records show it was cultivated as early as the 15th century B.C. Unlike today’s showy florist varieties, early chrysanthemums were modest wildflowers—yellow, daisy-like, and prized as much for their usefulness as for their beauty.
Ancient Chinese herbalists used the plant’s petals and roots in remedies for headaches and fevers, while poets admired its resilience. By the Tang dynasty (618–907 A.D.), the chrysanthemum had become a beloved subject in art and verse, admired as a symbol of integrity, humility, and the quiet endurance of autumn. The great poet Tao Yuanming (also known as Tao Qian) famously wrote of retiring to his garden “to drink wine among the chrysanthemums,” turning the flower into an emblem of the scholar’s retreat from worldly ambition.
In classical Chinese art, the chrysanthemum joined the plum blossom, orchid, and bamboo as one of the “Four Gentlemen” — plants that represented the refined virtues of a cultivated life. Its association with autumn completed the cycle of the seasons, standing for maturity, calmness, and the strength to thrive even as other blooms faded away.
Paintings after Ancient Masters: Chrysanthemum and Rock, 1598–1652, Chen Hongshou, The Cleveland Museum of Art
The Journey to Japan
By the 8th century A.D., Buddhist monks and travelers had carried the chrysanthemum from China to Japan, where it quickly took on new life and meaning. The Japanese, captivated by its symmetry and longevity, began cultivating hundreds of varieties in exquisite shapes and colors.
The chrysanthemum — kiku in Japanese — soon became the symbol of the imperial family. The sixteen-petaled chrysanthemum crest still adorns the Imperial Seal of Japan, and the throne itself is poetically known as the “Chrysanthemum Throne.” In this context, the flower came to signify rejuvenation, dignity, and the continuity of the nation.
Each year on September 9, the Japanese celebrate Kiku no Sekku, the Chrysanthemum Festival, one of the five ancient seasonal festivals. It was believed that dew collected from chrysanthemum petals could promote long life, and even today, chrysanthemum displays in temples and gardens mark the season with serene beauty. Bonsai-trained chrysanthemums—painstakingly shaped into cascading or domed forms—are still considered horticultural masterpieces.
Chrysanthemums and Horsefly, c. 1833–34, Katsushika Hokusai, The Minneapolis Institute of Art
The Chrysanthemum Crosses Continents
The chrysanthemum’s journey westward began much later. It reached Europe in the 17th century, brought by traders and botanists fascinated by the flora of Asia. The genus Chrysanthemum was named by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in 1753, drawing from the Greek chrysos (“gold”) and anthemon (“flower”) to describe the bright yellow blooms of the earliest known species.
By the 18th and 19th centuries, European plant breeders were developing a dizzying array of cultivars: spidery blooms, pompons, quills, and anemone forms in every imaginable hue. The chrysanthemum’s adaptability made it a darling of the Victorian greenhouse, and its late-season bloom guaranteed it a place in autumn gardens.
Yet the symbolism of the flower shifted in translation. In much of Europe, where All Saints’ Day falls in early November, chrysanthemums became associated with remembrance and mourning. They were placed on graves and adopted as the “flower of the dead.” While this might seem melancholy, it reflects a more profound continuity. In both the East and the West, the chrysanthemum has marked the border between life and decline, beauty and impermanence.
Chrysanthemums, c. 1874–76, James Tissot, The Clark Museum, Williamstown, Massachusetts
The Flower in European Art
By the time chrysanthemums reached Europe in the 17th century, they were prized not only by botanists and collectors but, later, by artists. The flower’s real artistic breakthrough came in the late 19th century, when Japonisme swept through Paris. Japanese prints, textiles, and floral motifs captivated the Impressionists, and the chrysanthemum—with its sculptural petals and range of warm autumn tones—became a favorite subject.
Claude Monet painted chrysanthemums in radiant still lifes that explore how light dissolves form. Auguste Renoir captured their softness and warmth, while James Tissot often placed them in porcelain vases in his portraits, echoing the delicate sensibility of Japanese design. Even Vincent van Gogh turned his attention to them during his Paris years, drawn to their vibrancy and abundance.
For these artists, the chrysanthemum represented more than a decorative bloom; it embodied the meeting of East and West. Through paint and pigment, they translated the flower’s long symbolic history into a new visual language—one that celebrated both natural beauty and artistic exchange.
Bouquet of Chrysanthemums, 1881, Auguste Renoir, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Across the Atlantic
When chrysanthemums arrived in North America in the late 18th century, they shed Europe’s somber associations with mourning and graveside remembrance, finding instead a brighter role — a symbol of warmth, harvest, and home. Their hues of amber, russet, and gold blended seamlessly into the palette of fall leaves and Thanksgiving tables.
By the early 20th century, “mums” had become the stars of American autumns. Breeders, eager to rival the grand chrysanthemum exhibitions of Japan, developed hardy hybrids that could thrive in northern gardens and bloom long after summer’s end. In the 1930s and 40s, chrysanthemum shows became fixtures of local fairs and garden clubs, where enthusiasts trained blooms into domes, cascades, and fans with near-sculptural precision. These carefully staged displays — equal parts horticulture and artistry — linked a modern pastime to centuries of reverence for patience, discipline, and the beauty of flowers in bloom.
Chrysanthemums, 1888, Dennis Bunker, The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Botanical and Horticultural Notes
Today, botanists recognize approximately forty species in the genus Chrysanthemum, part of the vast Asteraceae family, which also includes daisies and asters. The familiar garden varieties — the cushiony, globe-shaped flowers seen on porches each fall — descend primarily from Chrysanthemum indicum and Chrysanthemum morifolium, which have been bred and hybridized for centuries to expand their colors, petal forms, and resilience.
Horticultural societies classify chrysanthemums into thirteen distinct types, from quilled and spider forms to graceful pompons and incurved domes. Their diversity is staggering — thousands of cultivars in nearly every hue except blue — and their bloom time, when most other flowers have faded, makes them a cornerstone of autumn gardens worldwide.
Photo Credit: József Szabó via Unsplash
An Enduring Symbol
What endures about the chrysanthemum is not only its beauty, but its ability to carry meaning across time and culture. It began as an herbal remedy in ancient China, became the emblem of emperors in Japan, and found new expression in the gardens and festivals of the West. Few flowers have traveled so far or adapted so completely to the values of each place they touched.
Its late-season bloom is more than a matter of timing — it’s a statement. When most flowers have faded, the chrysanthemum stands firm, layered and luminous against the coming cold. Across centuries, it has come to represent resilience, dignity, and endurance, qualities as enduring as the flower itself.
Recommended Reading
Chrysanthemums: Beautiful Varieties for Home and Garden
by Naomi Slade (Author), Georgianna Lane (Photographer)
A comprehensive guide to some of the rarest and most interesting varieties of chrysanthemums, from open daisies to multi-petaled pom-poms, carefully explained by expert biologist and nature writer Naomi Slade and captured in gorgeous color by Georgianna Lane.
With expert advice and commentary, chrysanthemums are the perfect flower for weddings, gift bouquets, and to brighten the home. This book is the perfect handbook for anyone wanting to propagate, grow, or cut the perfect chrysanthemum.
Chrysanthemum (Botanical) by Twigs Way
Drawing its allure from the gold of the sun and the rule of the emperors, the chrysanthemum winds its way through ancient Chinese culture into the gardens of French impressionist painters and onto the pages of American novels. The flower signifies both life and death, as parts of Europe associate it with mourning while others celebrate it for its golden rays that light the autumnal gloom. In this fascinating book, Twigs Way follows the fortunes of the flower through philosophy, art, literature, and death, recounting the stories of the men and women who became captivated by this extraordinary bloom. With a range of vibrant illustrations, including works by Hiroshige, Monet, and Mondrian, Chrysanthemum will captivate lovers of art, flowers, history, and culture.
