Field marigold
Calendula arvensis
Family · Asteraceae · Harmless
Traditional use
The orange-yellow that shows up in any southern field almost all year. It is the wild cousin of the garden calendula, smaller and far more stubborn.
Where it grows
Fields and pasture · Roadsides and waste ground · Town and roadside · Montado
Also known aswild marigold
In flower
How to tell it
An orange-yellow head with narrow petals. The decisive tell is the fruit: curved seeds like small claws or moons, all different within the same flower.
What it is confused with
No dangerous lookalikes known in the Iberian Peninsula.
What it is for
Traditional external uses in Iberian folk medicine, mostly in skin ointments. It is not eaten and replaces no treatment.
With documented traditional uses. Not a therapeutic indication and not a dose.