Marigold is native to Central, Southern, and Eastern Europe, and the drug material comes from wild collections in North Africa (Egypt) and Eastern Europe (for example, Poland and Hungary). Other cultivars are found in Mediterranean countries and to a small extent in Germany. The plant is also a popular garden and cut flower.
Calendula flowers in herbal medicine.
As a drug, mainly the flower heads of calendula (Calendulae flos) collected at flowering time or even the essential oil are used. Sometimes there is a differentiation of the drug between Calendulae flos sine calyce (only tongue flowers) and Calendulae flos cum calyce (flower heads).
Characteristics of calendula
Calendula is an aromatic, 1-2 year old plant with soft, lanceolate leaves with glands. The plant forms 4-7 cm flower heads with numerous bright yellow or orange ray and tubular flowers.
Marigold as a medicine
The component of the drug are, in particular, the dried whole or disintegrated flower heads with a diameter of 4-7 cm with many ray florets and a few tubular florets, as well as single florets freed from the bracts (Calendulae flos sine calyce).
The drug is easily recognizable because of the characteristic female ray florets, which are yellow-red, shiny in color and three-toothed at the tip. The tubular flowers are rarer and much smaller. The fruits of marigold are curved like a tooth with a spiny back and should not be included in the drug.
What does marigold smell and taste like?
Calendula emits a faint odor that cannot be further identified. The taste of marigold flowers is faintly salty and bitter.
