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Herbs: Calendula/Pot Marigold - whole

Common names: Calendula, pot marigold
Latin name: Calendula officinalis

Excerpts from The Green Pharmacy Herbal Handbook

With those bright, yellow orange flowers, you might mistake calendula for any other marigold. But calendula is actually an entirely different plant. It's native to northern Africa and the south-central portion of Europe, but it can be grown elsewhere, including indoors. If you can't visually distinguish calendula from marigold, you'll probably be more successful using your nose: regular garden marigolds give off a strong, unpleasant aroma (although some people like it); calendula is comparatively milder.

Therapeutic uses for calendula include burns, inflammation, mucositis, and pharyngitis. The phytochemicals in calendula oppose fungi, bacteria, viruses, and inflammation. They also excite white blood cells in the immune system to fight microbial invaders with a little more vigor. For these reasons and others, calendula has been a good treatment for skin problems of all kinds, particularly cuts, scrapes, bruises, and minor wounds.

Excerpts from Practical Herbalism

Calendula is a remedy long used throughout Europe and the Americas for wound healing and ulcer treatments. Culpeper speaks of the flowers, either fresh or dried, as being "much used in possets, broth, and drink as a comforter of the heart and spirits, and to expel any malignant or pestilential quality which might annoy them." Ellingwood recommends it for varicose veins, chronic ulcers, capillary engorgement, hepatic and splenic congestion, recent wounds and open sores, and severe burns. Calendula petals have often been used to add color and flavor to breads, soups, pickles, and salad oils.

Calendula is one of the best herbs for treating local skin problems. It may be used safely wherever there is an inflammation on the skin, whether due to infection or physical damage. It may be used for any external bleeding or wounds, bruising, or strains. It will also be of benefit in slow-healing wounds and skin ulcers.

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