Calendula

Two bottles of oil and a flower on the table.

Calendula is a garden flower in the Aster family that now grows in temperate climates all over the world. It generously blooms in bright orange and yellow blossoms throughout the summer and often reseeds itself, returning again every year. Besides offering beauty wherever it grows, calendula benefits have been used for thousands of years for myriad medicinal applications.

Calendula Benefits for the Skin and Mucous Membranes

If you were to walk away knowing only one thing about Calendula’s many herbal uses, it would be that it is a premier herb for the skin and mucus membranes. It heals wounds, relieves inflammation, increases beneficial immune responses, is mildly antimicrobial, and even protects the skin from radiation damage.

When applied to a wound it is seldom that any suppuration follows, the wound healing by replacement or first intention. It has been tested by several practitioners, and by one, is used after every surgical operation with the happiest effect. You need not fear to use it in wounds, and I would not be without it for a hundred times its cost.

Here’s a look at the many ways we can employ this brilliantly blooming plant for the skin.

Calendula Benefits for Itches, Ratches, and Scratches

Think of calendula as an all-purpose plant for any manner of skin problems. Do you have itchy dry skin? Use some calendula cream or body butter. Have a mysterious rash? While figuring out the root cause of the rash, reach for calendula to soothe the discomfort.

For minor scratches or wounds, try a calendula salve or poultice. It promotes wound healing by stimulating proliferation and migration of fibroblasts. It is also mildly antimicrobial, helping to prevent infection.

Calendula is a favorite herbs for dealing with diaper rash. I recommend it as a salve or cream and it can be used as a preventive as well. When tested on the bottoms of 33 children under the age of 3, calendula was found to be both safe and effective for diaper dermatitis.

Calendula Benefits for Bug Bites

Calendula can soothe many bug bites, including the bites of mosquitos and the stings of bees, as well as those super-itchy chigar bites.

Common names: pot marigold, common marigold, ruddles, Mary’s gold or Scotch marigold, is a flowering plant in the daisy family Asteraceae. The latin name is Calendula officinalis.