Calendula

Calendula officinalis, the pot marigold or English marigold, is an annual or short-lived perennial herb in the family Asteraceae of probable southern European or Mediterranean origin, long cultivated in herb and cottage gardens throughout temperate regions of the world. The plant produces erect to ascending angular branched stems 20-60 cm tall, clothed throughout in soft glandular hairs and emitting a characteristic resinous-aromatic scent when bruised. Leaves are alternate, oblanceolate to broadly spatulate, 5-15 cm long, entire to obscurely toothed, sessile and partly clasping the stem in the upper portion, light green and softly hairy on both surfaces. The flower heads are showy, solitary, terminal on the stem and side branches, 4-7 cm across, with numerous bright orange to deep golden-yellow ray florets in one to several rows (single, semi-double, or fully double in cultivated forms) surrounding a contrasting orange or brownish disc of fertile tubular florets. The involucre is a single row of narrow lanceolate softly hairy green bracts. The achenes are remarkable for their strong morphological variability within a single head, ranging from curved boat-shaped or beaked outer forms to ridged or strongly hooked spiny inner forms, an adaptation interpreted as dispersing seed by both wind and animal vectors.