Medicinal plant - calendula

General information

Calendula, or marigold, is a plant with flowers in vibrant shades of orange and yellow. This flower can be found in almost every garden - it is beautiful, unpretentious and has medicinal properties.

And once upon a time, calendula was grown as a vegetable, pudding, fillings were prepared from it, and they were also added to oatmeal and soups. Some called it "a spice for the poor", as overseas spices were too expensive, and marigolds could replace saffron, enriching the dishes with a rich taste and giving them a beautiful shade.

We know and love calendula not only for its beauty, but above all for its various medicinal properties. Moreover, it is used not only in folk, but also in traditional medicine. In any pharmacy you can buy dried medicinal calendula flowers, oil or alcohol tincture, cream or candles.

Calendula: planting and growing medicinal herbs

Calendula prefers a sunny location, although it will grow in shaded areas, unless the flowers are smaller and not as bright. You can plant it with seeds or seedlings. The plant is cold-resistant, so you can sow in April or early May (or in October, before winter).

Moreover, having sowed once, you can forget about planting - the calendula, when it blooms, drops the seeds and the next year the flowers grow without your participation. Seeds are planted to a depth of 2-3 cm, shoots appear within a week.

If necessary, they must be thinned out so that the plants are not cramped (the extended sprouts can be transplanted to a new place - the calendula takes root well).

For all its unpretentiousness, calendula still requires some care. This, of course, is watering and loosening is obligatory, so it grows faster and blooms more abundantly. For medicinal purposes, it is the flowers that are harvested, cutting them off at the moment of full disclosure.

Having laid out the flowers on a pallet in one layer, place them in a warm, dry and well-ventilated room, in the shade, where they will remain until they dry completely (to check, gently press on the bud, if it crumbles - everything is ready).

Next, pour the calendula into a paper bag, linen bag or glass jar and use it - it retains its useful properties throughout the year.

Application and useful properties

First of all, about contraindications - they are few, but they are. Calendula is not recommended for women during pregnancy, for people with low blood pressure, they are contraindicated in heart failure, cannot be used simultaneously with sedatives. And of course with individual intolerance.

And now about the medicinal properties of calendula. Calendula oil has soothing, anti-inflammatory and wound healing properties, so it is successfully used to treat skin diseases such as pressure sores, scars, ulcers, eczema, bruises can also be smeared, so they will disappear faster.

With regular use, calendula oil will help to deal with the capillaries on the skin. Calendula oil is suitable for relieving irritation from baby skin, and also protects against sunburn.

Tincture of calendula is used to treat tonsillitis, inflammatory processes in the oral cavity, as well as for diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. Suppositories with calendula are used to treat inflammatory processes in gynecology, as well as in the treatment of hemorrhoids.

And there is also soap with calendula, various creams, shampoos and balms, masks and tonics.

But if in the summer you managed to properly prepare calendula flowers, then you can make decoctions and infusions yourself, with which you will wipe your skin, rinse your hair, add to face masks.

It is recommended to gargle with a decoction of calendula for sore throat, it can be drunk for diseases of the pancreas and gallbladder.

Such a decoction with calendula has a mild sedative effect, helps relieve fever in case of colds and normalizes the digestive system. This is truly a cure for any disease!