Herb of the Month
A Healing Flower:
Calendula officinalis
By Louise Dunlap
The joyous golden, yellow and orange flowers
of calendula are easy to grow in backyard gardens or even in pots
or window boxes. In fact, Calendula officinalis is sometimes
called the "Pot Marigold," but names can be confusing,
so I am not going to use this name. Calendula is not to be confused
with the French or African marigold, an even-more-common orange
and yellow (and some-times bronze) garden flower that has intensely
smelly leaves and petals. I'm sure most readers know this more familiar
marigold: its flowers are usually showy and frilly (some are like
cheer-leader pom poms) and its leaves are toothed, crinkled and
cut in fern-like shapes and often tinged with bronze. Calendula
leaves, on the other hand, are tender like young lettuce, though
slightly hairy, and shaped in gentle oblongs of a soft green color.
A member of the composite or "daisy" family, calendula
flowers are 1-1/2 to 3 inches across and have many delicate ray-like
petals that emanate from a center in the same color range.
Calendulas, which bloom from early summer well
into fall, not only gladden the heart but turn out to be one of
those flowers that you can eat. Like the better known pansies and
nasturtiums sold in upscale produce sections, calendula flowers
lend color, taste, and heightened nourish-ment to summer salads.
Along with their young, tender leaves and buds, which I've also
tried in salads to good effect, they are especially high in vitamin
C.
Grown in gardens all over the world, calendula
has a distinguished healing reputation and was used in Indian, Arabic,
and Greek traditional medicine. It is said that such large amounts
of it are grown in Russia for medicinal uses that it is called "the
Russian penicillin."
Readers may know calendula flowers as the key
ingredient in various healing and antiseptic creams that have been
on the market in our country for some time--a babies' version for
diaper rash and adult versions for cuts, abrasions, boils, athlete's
foot, and burns including sunburn. I have not tried any of these
products--though I've been tempted to because I am so drawn to the
cheery beauty of the flower--so my information on them comes second
hand. A friend who developed an infected leg wound on a months-long
walking journey far from Western healthcare had good experiences
with one of the creams. (Yet the name confusion persists: the one
he used was called "marigold" rather than "calendula.")
Modern herbalists have developed infusions, tinctures and creams
of calendula for an even wider range of external uses, including
acne, eczema, hemorrhoids, the lesions of chickenpox and measles,
insect bites, nosebleeds, and eye infections like conjunctivitis.
A douche made from an infusion of fresh dried calendula flowers
is said to be effective against yeast and other vaginal infections.
As for internal uses, herbalists have also
used tinctures and infusions as a gargle for throat infections and
mouth ulcers and to address inflamed lymph nodes and heal damaged
stomach lining. Homeopathic practitioners prescribe calendula for
coughs, colds, fever, and chronic infections as well as wounds.
From yet another perspective, calendula is said to affect the energy
flows which are so important in the healing approach of Chinese
medicine. Peter Holmes (whose fascinating book sorts out The
Energetics of Western Herbs ) says calendula can help with cardiac
deficiency and liver problems as well as fighting infections. It
is especially important in cleansing the system of toxins. Holmes
considers calendula a mild remedy with very little toxicity, but
one that works best when a problem is mainly physiological (as opposed
to other herbs like lavendar which address emotional and psychological
factors as well).
Holmes and Anne McIntyre (The Complete Woman's
Herbal) consider calendula especially important in working with
special difficulties women experience. I have already mentioned
yeast infections, but these authors say calendula has an estrogenic
effect that can also help with problems linked to imbalances of
this hormone, such as PMS, osteoporosis and vaginal dryness. McIntyre
also finds calendula useful in dealing with endometriosis and pelvic
inflammatory disease (PID) as well as breast, uterine, and cervical
cancer. Both authors say it can help with difficult childbirth and
that, by the same token, calendula should never be taken internally
during pregnancy.
As usual, when I started the research for this
article, I had no idea that a beautiful plant I was intuitively
drawn to would be linked to the healing of major afflictions like
endometriosis, PID, and breast cancer, which have caused so much
pain to many of my friends. I can speak first hand for the joys
of using calendula in salads and, second hand, for its usefulness
in healing afflictions of the skin under difficult circumstances.
But the possibility that this flower might also have potency against
something as serious as cancer is unsettling. I don't believe in
spreading rumors or creating false hopes or in passing on the kind
of absurd claims for herbal remedies that passed for science in
medieval Europe. (I used to study the literature of this period
and I have seen some pretty fanciful stuff!) But on the other hand,
there is so much we don't know about herbs and healing, and I look
with awe on the work of those herbalists who are seeking to learn.
Plant by plant, I hope to extend my own experience.
I rediscovered Calendula officinalis
a few years ago when I saw how it thrived in my neighbor's backyard
plot as cool fall days and the first frosts approached. As everything
else lost its summer sheen, this plant began to bloom furiously
as if in its element. What could be more promising of the energy
of health? If you want to begin learning about calendula, and have
access to some garden space, or even an outdoor pot, there is still
time this year to plant seedlings. As hot weather begins to cool,
they will flower well into the fall. The cut flowers will last well
in the house and you can try a few in salads, and save some dry
petals (which look like saffron threads only brighter) for winter
salads and to add color to deserts. Perhaps you'll try making an
infusion (a long-brewed tea). And watch what happens next spring
where your calendula was growing: this plant grows very easily from
its own seed, and maybe the second year you will learn some more
advanced uses for it.
Louise Dunlap teaches yoga and writing,
and is working on a book called Writing for Social Change.
Any medicinal descriptions are given for information
only. Refer to an herbal medicine book or an herbalist for dosages.
The reader is solely responsible for the results of using herbal
remedies.
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