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Calendula officinalis
Family: Asteraceae
(Composite)
Names: Pot Marigold, Summer's
Bride, Husbandman's Dial, Holigold, Marybud,
Marygold, Bride of the Sun, Spousa Solis, Golds,
bull flower; butterwort, care, cowbloom,
death-flower, drunkard, golden flower of Mary,
gouls, goulans, kingcups, holygold, sun’s bride,
water dragon, yolk of egg, poet’s marygold, publican
and sinner, ruddles, Scotch marigold, shining herb,
solsequia, Gold; Ringelblume, Studentenblume,
Totenblume, Goldblume (German); souci (French);
calendula (Italian); Nagietek lekarski (Polish);
goedsbloem-wratten-kruid (Dutch); calendula gialla,
fiorrancio, calenzola (Italian); calendula,
flamenquilla, maravilla, flor de muerto (Spanish);
maravilhas, marianas (Portuguese); ringblomma
(Swedish); nogotki, lekarstvennye (Russian);
chin-chan-hua (Chinese); janvah, azariyunah,
azarboya (Arabic)
Description: Native to Asia
and southern Europe and was brought to America by
early settlers. Introduced to Britain by the Romans.
Calendula is a flowering annual that grows to a
height of twelve to eighteen inches. The stem is
slightly fuzzy and the leaves are soft, long
(growing to 6"), pale green. The root is a long
spindly taproot. Flowers may be yellow or orange.
The flowers are about one and one-half inches in
diameter, consisting of concentric rows of ray
florets surrounding the smaller ones making up the
center disc.
Cultivation: Direct seed in
the garden once the last chance of frost has past or
plants can be put out before the last frost being
careful not to injure the long taproot when
transplanting. Germination is 7-10 days at a very
high percentage if the seed is of good quality. The
young seedlings are susceptible to damping off so
take care to have good drainage and ventilation.
Prefers a moderately healthy soil with average
drainage and a pH of 5-8 but will grow in a wide
range of soils. They prefer full sun or partial
shade. A second planting can be made at the
beginning of July to ensure a fall harvest. Thin
plants to 12 inches apart. If you dehead the plant
religiously in spring and summer it may produce more
flowers as the weather turns cooler. Irrigation
needs are on the high side so it’s recommended to
water once or twice a week depending on the
temperature, humidity and soil type. Cultivation
should be done soon after transplanting and probably
one more time before it becomes unnecessary due to
the short life of the crop in the field. Pests
include blister beetles, aphids and cucumber
beetles. Best way to deal with pests is to pick the
flowers often so there is little time for the pests
to feed. Cucumber beetles are extremely difficult to
deal with except with strong botanicals like
rotenone.
Flower harvest can start as early
as late May in warm areas. You can pick a particular
planting three times a week until productivity goes
way down, which is usually after 6-8 weeks. Harvests
start to diminish in the late plantings after the
first frost. The best time to pick is in the heat of
the day when the resins are highest and the water
content the lowest. Never let the flowers develop to
the point where the seed is forming or you will
greatly diminish your harvest totals.
The flowers should be dried as
soon as possible as they tend to heat up and
decompose if kept in the sun or in your harvest
bucket. The petals dry quickly but the receptacle
does not so you can expect a total drying time of 10
days or more at 90 degrees or so. Some growers
advocate quick drying at high temperatures of 120
degrees which dries them in 5-7 days. They must also
be sorted carefully as they reabsorb moisture
readily. Dry flower yields of 400-600 pounds per
acre can be expected. An acre would require a crew
of 3-4 picking nearly every afternoon for 3-4
months.
History: The word calendula
is derived from the Latin calens meaning the
first day of each month because the Romans claimed
they bloomed the first of each month. Christians
called it "marygold" and "marybud" because it
bloomed at all the festivals celebrating the Virgin
Mary, also because people believed by constant
association with the flowers they could ward off
evil. It should not be confused with Tagetes
also called "marigold". Known as the "herb of the
sun" because the flowers open in the morning and
close in the evening. Mentioned as such in
Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale. The French
name gauche-fer, meaning left-hand iron, was
coined because the brilliant yellow marigold flower
was thought to resemble the polished shield worn by
warriors on the left arm. The culinary use of
calendula dates back to ancient Rome. Common people
couldn't afford to buy saffron and they discovered
that powdered calendula petals were an excellent
substitute which is why it has been called "poor
man's saffron".
There are many stories about
calendula. One is the story of the four wood nymphs
who fell in love with Apollo, the sun god. The
nymphs became so jealous of one another they began
neglecting their duties to Apollo's sister, the
goddess Diana. She turned them into four dull-white
marigolds, which distressed Apollo, but his only
recourse was to send down his most brilliant rays to
color them gold.
In German folklore, rain was
predicted if the flowers remained closed after 7 am.
In India, Buddhists held pot marigold sacred to the
goddess Mahadevi, who carried a trident emblem
adorned with the flowers, while her followers
crowned themselves with marigolds at her festival.
Marigold was commonly used as an aphrodisiac, and
thought to have great significance in love. Planting
marigold in the footsteps of a loved one was
supposed to tie him to his beloved. An old legend
held that if a maiden touches a pot marigold with
her bare foot she would be able to understand the
language of birds. In the Middle Ages in Europe it
was believed that those who wore marigolds would
have a vision of anyone who had robbed them. Spanish
sorcerers were said to wear it as a talisman.
Traditionally it was picked when the Sun entered the
sign of Virgo and the picker had to carry a wolf’s
tooth wrapped in a bay leaf. In Mexico it is thought
to be a flower of death and is believed to have
spring from the blood of the Indians killed by the
Spanish invaders.
Xochiquetzal, the Aztec love
goddess, taught her people the message of the
marigold, the petalled book of the cycles of life,
of seed to leafy stem, of leafy stem to bud, of bud
to flower open to the Sun, of flowers to drying
petals that were the womb for the seed – to complete
the cycle. Offerings of marigold petals were made to
her.
In the early days of this country dried marigold
petals were sold in country stores out of a wooden
barrel just like other herbs. The practice of
coloring butter made from autumn and winter
milk--low in vitamin A and pale compared to spring
butter--with skin-healing calendula was so common
that butter became widely known as a burn ointment.
The pigmentation of ornamental fish in captivity can
be intensified by adding Calendula to regular fish
food.
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