Pot Marigold-Calendula officinalis

The ancient Calendula officinalis - Pot Marigold is well known everywhere, in warm temperate regions of the world, as a much appreciated plant for medicinal and culinary purposes.

Pot Marigold, also known as Holigold, Bride of the Sun is in the same family (Asteraceae) as daisies and chrysanthemums and it is not related to the garden flowers that we usually call marigold (Tagetes).

Its long history of cultivation makes its precise origin unknown, but in earlier times Persians, Greeks, Romans and Indian cultures used the flowers and leaves as a medicinal herb as well as a dye for fabrics and foods.

In Macer's Herbal it is stated that only to look on Marigolds will draw evil humours out of the head and strengthen the eyesight. Here is an the English translation completed in about 1373:

'Golde [Marigold] is bitter in savour
Fayr and zelw [yellow] is his flowur
Ye golde flour is good to sene
It makyth ye syth bryth and clene
Wyscely to lokyn on his flowres
Drawyth owt of ye heed wikked hirores
[humours].
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Loke wyscely on golde erly at morwe [morning]
Yat day fro feures it schall ye borwe:
Ye odour of ye golde is good to smelle.'

Macer's Herbal (De Viribus Herbarum) is a handwritten manuscript, probably written sometime in the 10th or 11th century. The work is usually attributed to Odo, Bishop of Meung as his name appears on the 12th- century manuscript located in Dresden.

Pot Marigold uses:

Calendula herbal tea:

Infusion: one tablespoon of dried flowers per cup of hot water. Drink 2 to 4 cups each day for intestinal problems and to clean lymph and blood. It can be applied locally for skin disorders.

The edible Calendula flower petals, either fresh or dry, are used in all kind of food recipes, in salads or to add color.

Plant extracts are also widely used in cosmetics, due to presence of compounds such as saponins, resins and essential oils.

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