EDNOTE. Lest anyone has forgotten----the "marygold"
issue came up when VN dissected a translation goof by Wallace Fowlie of a
Rimbaud poem.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, November 07, 2004 5:50 AM
Subject: Marigold, Marsh marigold, Picăo
Marigold
Botanical: Calendula officinalis (LINN.)
Family: N.O.
Compositae
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Second Source:
Marygold
Caltha officinalis.
Golds. Ruddes. Mary Gowles. Oculus Christi. Pot Marigold. Marygold. Fiore d'ogni
mese. Solis Sponsa.
The Common Marigold is familiar to everyone, with its
pale-green leaves and golden orange flowers. It is said to be in bloom on the
calends of every month, hence its Latin name, and one of the names by which it
is known in Italy - fiore d'ogni mese - countenances this derivation. It
was not named after the Virgin, its name being a corruption of the Anglo-Saxon
merso-meargealla, the Marsh Marigold. Old English authors called it Golds
or Ruddes. It was, however, later associated with the Virgin Mary, and in the
seventeenth century with Queen Mary.
It was well known to the old herbalists as a
garden-flower and for use in cookery and medicine. Dodoens-Lyte (A Niewe
Herball, 1578) says:
'It hath pleasant,
bright and shining yellow flowers, the which do close at the setting downe of
the sunne, and do spread and open againe at the sunne rising.' Linnaeus assigned a narrower limit to the
expansion of its flowers, observing that they are open from nine in the morning
till three in the afternoon. This regular expansion and closing of the flowers
attracted early notice, and hence the plant acquired the names of
solsequia and solis sponsa. There is an allusion to this
peculiarity in the poems of Rowley: 'The
Mary-budde that shooteth (shutteth) with the light.'
And in the Winter's
Tale: 'The Marigold that
goes to bed wi' th' sun, And
with him rises weeping.'
It
has been cultivated in the kitchen garden for the flowers, which are dried for
broth, and said to comfort the heart and spirits.
Fuller writes: 'We all know the many and
sovereign virtues in your leaves, the Herbe Generalle in all pottage.'
(Antheologie, 1655.) Stevens, in Maison Rustique, or the Countrie Farme
(1699), mentions the Marigold as a specific for headache, jaundice, red eyes,
toothache and ague. The dried flowers are still used among the peasantry 'to
strengthen and comfort the hart.' He says further: 'Conserve made of the flowers and sugar, taken
in the morning fasting, cureth the trembling of the harte, and is also given in
the time of plague or pestilence. The yellow leaves of the flowers are dried and
kept throughout Dutchland against winter to put into broths, physicall potions
and for divers other purposes, in such quantity that in some Grocers or
Spicesellers are to be found barrels filled with them and retailed by the penny
or less, insomuch that no broths are well made without dried Marigold.'
Formerly its flowers were used
to give cheese a yellow colour. In Macer's Herbal it is stated that only to look on Marigolds will draw
evil humours out of the head and strengthen the eyesight.
'Golde [Marigold] is
bitter in savour
Fayr
and zelw [yellow] is his flowur
Ye golde flour is good to sene
It makyth ye syth bryth and clene
Wyscely to lokyn on his
flowres
Drawyth owt of
ye heed wikked hirores
.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Loke wyscely on golde erly at morwe [morning]
Yat day fro feures it
schall ye borwe:
Ye
odour of ye golde is good to smelle.'
'It must be taken only when the moon is in the
Sign of the Virgin and not when Jupiter is in the ascendant, for then the herb
loses its virtue. And the gatherer, who must be out of deadly sin, must say
three Pater Nosters and three Aves. It will give the wearer a vision of anyone
who has robbed him.' From Eleanour
Sinclair Rohde's Old English Herbals: 'Of marygold we learn that Summe use to make theyr here yelow with
the floure of this herbe, not beyng contet with the naturall colour which God
hath geven the.' Gerard speaks
of: 'The fruitful or much-bearing
marigold, . . . is likewise called Jackanapes-on-horsebacke: it hath leaves
stalkes and roots like the common sort of marigold, differing in the shape of
his floures; for this plant doth bring forth at the top of the stalke one floure
like the other marigolds, from which start forth sundry other small floures,
yellow likewise and of the same fashion as the first; which if I be not deceived
commeth to pass per accidens, or by chance, as Nature often times liketh to play
with other flowers; or as children are borne with two thumbes on one hande or
such like; which living to be men do get children like unto others: even so is
the seed of this Marigold, which if it be sowen it brings forth not one floure
in a thousand like the plant from whence it was taken.' Culpepper says it is a: 'herb of the Sun, and under Leo. They
strengthen the heart exceedingly, and are very expulsive, and a little less
effectual in the smallpox and measles than saffron. The juice of Marigold leaves
mixed with vinegar, and any hot swelling bathed with it, instantly gives ease,
and assuages it. The flowers, either green or dried, are much used in possets,
broths, and drink, as a comforter of the heart and spirits, and to expel any
malignant or pestilential quality which might annoy them. A plaister made with
the dry flowers in powder, hog's-grease, turpentine, and rosin, applied to the
breast, strengthens and succours the heart infinitely in fevers, whether
pestilential or not.'
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Third Google
source: ( while copying them, I lost the references for each site!)
MARSH MARIGOLD: The Marigold is a native of south Europe. Seeds sown in April, in any
soil, in sunny, or half-sunny places germinate freely. The plants will begin to
flower in June, and continue flowering until the frost kills them. They will
increase from year to year, if allowed to seed themselves.Only the common deep
orange-flowered variety is of medicinical value.
Scientific Name Caltha
palustris
Common Name Marsh marigold
Family
:Ranunculaceae
Plant Description : Herbaceous
perennial; leaves rounded to heart-shaped, mostly basal; flowers yellow,
5-6-parted; fruits dry with red seeds.
Distribution:
Native locally in mountains; cultivated.
Where Found:
Forest or natural area, marshy ground in mountains.
-
| Caltha palustris L. |
| yellow marsh marigold |
| Symbol: |
CAPA5 |
| Group: |
Dicot |
| Family: |
Ranunculaceae |
| Growth Habit: |
Forb/herb
|
| Duration: |
Perennial
|
| U.S.
Nativity: |
Native |
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Fourth Google source:
PICĂO |
Family:
Asteraceae
Genus: Bidens
Species: pilosa
Synonyms:
Bidens adhaerescens, B. alausensis, B. chilensis, B. hirsuta, B.
leucantha, B. montaubani, B. reflexa, B. scandicina, B. sundaica, Coreopsis
leucantha, Kerneria pilosa
Common Names: Picăo preto,
carrapicho, amor seco, pirca, aceitilla, cadillo, chilca, pacunga, cuambu,
erva-picăo, alfiler, clavelito de monte, romerillo, saltillo, yema de huevo,
z’aiguille, jarongan, ketul, pau-pau pasir, Spanish needles, bident herisse,
herbe d’aiguille, zweizahn, bidente piloso, mozote, beggar’s tick
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Fifth Google source:
Picăo preto is a small, erect annual herb that
grows to 1 m high. It has bright green leaves with serrated, prickly edges and
produces small, yellow flowers and black fruit. Its root has a distinctive aroma
similar to that of a carrot. It is indigenous to the Amazon rainforest and other
tropical areas of South America, Africa, the Caribbean, and the Philippines. It
is often considered a weed in many places. It is a southern cousin to
Bidens tripartita, the European bur marigold, which has an
ancient history in European herbal medicine. In Brazil, the plant is most
commonly known as picăo preto or carrapicho; in Peru it is known
as amor seco or pirca.
