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Calendula arvensis

Common name:	Field Marigold	Family:	Compositae
Author:	L.	Botanical references:	50, 200
Synonyms:
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	Europe. A garden escape in Britain[17].
Habitat:	Fields, vineyards and waste ground[89].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	2	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	3

Other Possible Synonyms:	From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below.
	C. aegyptiaca[G] C. gracilis[G] C. micrantha[G] C. persica[G]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Akkergoudsbloem [D], Cayir Nergisi [E], Djane Passe Vlour [E], Field Marigold [L,P], Field-marigold [B], Maravilla [E], Maravilla Silvestre [E],
Epithets:	From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets
	arvensis = of cultivated fields
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Asterales. Renamed to Asteraceae -- Aster family
Other Range Info:	From the Ethnobotany Database
	Belgium Chile Spain Turkey

Physical Characteristics

Annual growing to 0.3m. It is hardy to zone 6 and is not frost tender. It is in flower from June to November, and the seeds ripen from August to November. The flowers are monoecious (individual flowers are either male or female, but both sexes can be found on the same plant) and are pollinated by Bees. We rate it 2/5 for edibility and 3/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils, requires well-drained soil and can grow in nutritionally poor soil. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It requires moist soil.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Cultivated Beds.

Edible Uses

Flowers Leaves.

Young shoots and leaves - raw or cooked[105, 177, 183, 217]. The leaves are very rich in vitamins and minerals, they are similar to Taraxacum officinale (Dandelion) in nutritional value[179].
Flower heads - pickled[177, 183].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

Antiphlogistic Antiseptic Antispasmodic Aperient Astringent Cholagogue Diaphoretic Emmenagogue Homeopathy Skin Stimulant Vulnerary Warts.

The leaves are diaphoretic[61, 240].
The flowers are said to be antispasmodic, emmenagogue and stimulant[240].

The plant seems to have similar therapeutic properties to pot marigold, C. officinalis[254]. These properties are:-
Pot marigold is one of the best known and versatile herbs in Western herbal medicine and is also a popular domestic remedy[4, 254]. It is, above all, a remedy for skin problems and is applied externally to bites and stings, sprains, wounds, sore eyes, varicose veins etc[4, 254]. It is also a cleansing and detoxifying herb and is taken internally in treating fevers and chronic infections[4, 254]. Only the common deep-orange flowered variety is considered to be of medicinal value[4].
The whole plant, but especially the flowers and the leaves, is antiphlogistic, antiseptic, antispasmodic, aperient, astringent, cholagogue, diaphoretic, emmenagogue, skin, stimulant and vulnerary[4, 7, 9, 21, 46, 165, 201]. The leaves can be used fresh or dried, they are best harvested in the morning of a fine sunny day just after the dew has dried from them[4]. The flowers are also used fresh or dried, for drying they are harvested when fully open and need to be dried quickly in the shade[4].
A tea of the petals tones up the circulation and, taken regularly, can ease varicose veins[201].
An application of the crushed stems to corns and warts will soon render them easily removable[7].
The leaves, blossoms and buds are used to make a homeopathic remedy[232]. It is used internally in order to speed the healing of wounds[232].

Other Uses

None known

Cultivation details

An easily grown and very ornamental plant, it succeeds in any well-drained soil[200], though it prefers a good loam and does best in a sunny or at least partially sunny position[4, 15, 200]. The plant flowers best when it is grown in a poor soil.
Plants usually self-sow quite freely in the garden.

Propagation

Seed - sow in situ from spring to early summer and again in September. The seed germinates best in darkness and usually within 1 - 2 weeks at 21° c[138].

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

Web References

Details of Medicinal Uses, Habitats, etc. in M. Grieve A Modern Herbal (1931) [4]
[E] Ethnobotany Data (common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.
[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[4] Grieve. A Modern Herbal. Penguin 1984 ISBN 0-14-046-440-9
Not so modern (1930's?) but lots of information, mainly temperate plants.

[7] Chiej. R. Encyclopaedia of Medicinal Plants. MacDonald 1984 ISBN 0-356-10541-5
Covers plants growing in Europe. Also gives other interesting information on the plants. Good photographs.

[9] Launert. E. Edible and Medicinal Plants. Hamlyn 1981 ISBN 0-600-37216-2
Covers plants in Europe. a drawing of each plant, quite a bit of interesting information.

[15] Bryan. J. and Castle. C. Edible Ornamental Garden. Pitman Publishing 1976 ISBN 0-273-00098-5
A small book with interesting ideas for edible plants in the ornamental garden.

[17] Clapham, Tootin and Warburg. Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press 1962
A very comprehensive flora, the standard reference book but it has no pictures.

[21] Lust. J. The Herb Book. Bantam books 1983 ISBN 0-553-23827-2
Lots of information tightly crammed into a fairly small book.

[46] Uphof. J. C. Th. Dictionary of Economic Plants. Weinheim 1959
An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.

[50] ? Flora Europaea Cambridge University Press 1964
An immense work in 6 volumes (including the index). The standard reference flora for europe, it is very terse though and with very little extra information. Not for the casual reader.

[61] Usher. G. A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. Constable 1974 ISBN 0094579202
Forget the sexist title, this is one of the best books on the subject. Lists a very extensive range of useful plants from around the world with very brief details of the uses. Not for the casual reader.

[89] Polunin. O. and Huxley. A. Flowers of the Mediterranean. Hogarth Press 1987 ISBN 0-7012-0784-1
A very readable pocket flora that is well illustrated. Gives some information on plant uses.

[105] Tanaka. T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing 1976
The most comprehensive guide to edible plants I've come across. Only the briefest entry for each species, though, and some of the entries are more than a little dubious. Not for the casual reader.

[138] Bird. R. (Editor) Growing from Seed. Volume 3. Thompson and Morgan. 1989
Very readable magazine with lots of information on propagation.

[165] Mills. S. Y. The Dictionary of Modern Herbalism.
An excellent small herbal.

[177] Kunkel. G. Plants for Human Consumption. Koeltz Scientific Books 1984 ISBN 3874292169
An excellent book for the dedicated. A comprehensive listing of latin names with a brief list of edible parts.

[179] Reid. B. E. Famine Foods of the Chiu-Huang Pen-ts'ao. Taipei. Southern Materials Centre 1977
A translation of an ancient Chinese book on edible wild foods. Fascinating.

[183] Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications 1990 ISBN 0-9628087-0-9
Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

[201] Allardice.P. A - Z of Companion Planting. Cassell Publishers Ltd. 1993 ISBN 0-304-34324-2
A well produced and very readable book.

[217] Les Ecologistes de l'Euzière Les Salades Sauvages Not given. 1994 ISBN 2-906128-04-X
A lovely little book about some wild salads in France. Written in French.

[232] Castro. M. The Complete Homeopathy Handbook. Macmillan. London. 1990 ISBN 0-333-55581-3
A concise beginner's guide to the subject. Very readable.

[240] Chopra. R. N., Nayar. S. L. and Chopra. I. C. Glossary of Indian Medicinal Plants (Including the Supplement). Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi. 1986
Very terse details of medicinal uses of plants with a wide range of references and details of research into the plants chemistry. Not for the casual reader.

[254] Chevallier. A. The Encyclopedia of Medicinal Plants Dorling Kindersley. London 1996 ISBN 9-780751-303148
An excellent guide to over 500 of the more well known medicinal herbs from around the world.

Readers Comments

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Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
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