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MARIGOLD

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 719 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MARIGOLD . This name has been given to several See also:

plants, of which the following are the best known: Calendula officinalis, the pot-marigold; Tagetes- erecta, the See also:African marigold; T. patula, the See also:French marigold; and Chrysanthemum segetum, the See also:corn marigold. All these belong to the See also:order See also:Compositae; but Caltha palustris, the See also:marsh marigold, belongs to the order See also:Ranunculaceae. The first-mentioned is the See also:familiar See also:garden plant with large See also:orange-coloured blossoms, and is probably not known in a See also:wild See also:state. There are now many See also:fine garden varieties of it. The florets are unisexual, the " See also:ray " florets being See also:female, the " disk " florets male. This and the See also:double variety have been in cultivation for at least three See also:hundred years, as well as a proliferous See also:form, C. prolifera, or the " fruitful marigolde " of See also:Gerard (Herball, p. 602), in which small See also:flower-heads proceed from beneath the circumference of the flower. The figure of " the greatest double marigold," C. multiflora See also:maxima, given by Gerard (loc. cit. p. 600) is larger than most specimens now seen, being 3 in. in See also:diameter. He remarks of " the marigolde " that it is called Calendula " as it is to be seene to flower in the calends of almost euerie moneth." It was supposed to have several specific virtues, but they are non-existent. " The marigold, that goes to See also:bed wi' the See also:sun," is mentioned by See also:Shakespeare, See also:Winter's See also:Tale, iv.

3. Tagetes patula, and T. erecta, the French and African marigolds, are natives of See also:

Mexico, and are equally familiar garden plants, having been See also:long in cultivation. Gerard figures five varieties of Flos See also:africanus, of the single and double See also:kind (loc. cit., p. 609). Besides the above See also:species the following have been introduced later, T. lucida, T. signata, also from Mexico, and T. tenuifolia from See also:Peru. Chrysanthemum segetum, the yellow corn marigold, is indigenous to See also:Great See also:Britain, and is frequent in corn-See also:fields in most parts of See also:England. When dried it has been employed as See also:hay. It is also used in See also:Germany for See also:dyeing yellow. Gerard observes that in his See also:day " the stalke and leaues of Corne Marigolde, as Dioscorides saith, are eaten as other potherbes are." Caltha palustris, the marsh marigold, or See also:king-cups, the " winking See also:Mary-buds " of Shakespeare (Cymb., ii. 3), is a See also:common See also:British plant in marshy meadows and beside See also:water. It bears smooth See also:heart-shaped leaves, and See also:flowers with a See also:golden yellow calyx but no corolla, blossoming in See also:March and See also:April. The flower-buds preserved in salted See also:vinegar are a See also:good substitute for See also:capers.

A double-flowered variety is often cultivated, and is occasionally found wild.

End of Article: MARIGOLD

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