Garden of medicinal plants
Photos Credit: Salagon Museum. Text : Marie Josèphe Moncorgé. Translator: Jean-Marc Bulit
Pot marigold
photo above - Salagon.
A pretty yellow orange flower (calendula officinalis) which has become an ornemental plant in our modern gardens. Called solsequium (that which follows the sun) in the Latin of the Middle Ages, this plant of the sunflower family was both a medicinal and a magic plant. Platearius warns his readers: Some, who have experienced it, but shouldn’t be believed, say that anyone who shall anoint himself with the juice of this herb and southernwood before going to bed in the evening will find himself displaced to another place in the morning.
Pot marigold has excellent skin healing qualities which have been re-discovered by homeopathic medicine. Tea made with pot marigold flowers can be used against the flu, bronchitis and pneumonia.