Abstract: Hung Hwa, the floral parts of Carthamus tinctorius L. (Compositae), is one of the important Chinese drugs used in gynecology. A brief review of the literature and detailed descriptions of the macroscopical and microscopical characters of the drug are given with plates of illustration. The more important microscopical features of the drug are: (1) pollen grains, yellow, single, subspherical, diameter about 55μ, three distinct germinal pores visible in polar view, surface with fine warts arranged in a net pattern; (2) pigment tubes, contents yellowish brown to reddish brown, often accompanied with a few spiral vessels; (3) fibrous layer of the pollen sac, elongated, transverse walls with rod-like or 1-3 bead-like thickened portions; (4) fibrous layer of the anther tip, walls thickened with simple pits; (5) stigma densely covered with conical trichomes; (6) upper epidermal cells of the corolla, elongated, with wavy anticlinal walls; (7) epidermal calls of the filament, elongated, thin walled, with uniseriate or diseriate papillose trichomes. Specimens adulterated with bracts may be detected by the presence of its unicellular, thick-walled trichomes with stone cell-like base.