Species name :

Calendula officinalis L.
Published in Sp. Pl. 921 (1753)

Synonyms :
(basionym or principal syn.)

No Main Synonyms

Full list of synonyms : [Euro+Med] [PlantList] [IPNI] [POWO] [Catalogue of Life ]

Plant Family :

Asteraceae Bercht. & J.Presl (=Compositae) (The Daisy or Sunflower Family)
125 species from the Asteraceae family are recorded from the Maltese Islands.

English name(s) :

Pot Marigold, English Marigold

Maltese name(s) :

Suffejra tal-ġonna

Status for Malta :

Species that was introduced in Malta after year 1492 and spreads to form established, non-invasive populations. It may become become invasive

Frequency :

Very Common     Common     Frequent     Scarce     Rare     Very rare     Extinct

Growth form :

Raunkiaer lifeform [info]: THEROPHYTE (annuals)
Germination [info]: Dicotyledon

Legal Protection [link]:

Not Protected by Law (LN200/2011 or LN311/2006)

Red List (1989) :

Not listed in the Red Data Book of the Maltese Islands

Flowering Time :

Jan-Jun

Colour of Flowers:

Yellow or Orange

Habitat in Europe:

Cultivated for ornament

Preferred habitat in Malta:

Ornamental plant which have been seen escaping in sites close to its cultivated origin such as in road margins, fields, disturbed ground and even garigue

Botanical Description:

Annual to perennial, woody only at the base. Stems (17-)20-50(-10) cm, erect, diffuse or procumbent, much-branched, generally leafy almost to apex. Leaves (3-)7-14(-17) x 1-4(-6) cm, oblanceolate, narrowly obovate, oblong or spathulate, shortly acute or obtuse, glandular-pubescent to sparsely arachnoid-floccose, usually subentire to obscurely repand-dentate. Capitula usually 4-7 cm in diameter. Ligules often 2 cm, at least twice as long as the involucral bracts, yellow or orange; tubular florets usually more or less concolorous with ligules, sometimes brownish. Capitula in fruit with or without an outer row of incurved (or rarely patent) narrowly beaked achenes 2-2.5 cm, alternating with much shorter, cymbiform (rarely 3-winged) achenes.

Distributional range:

throughout Europe locally naturalized in S. & W. Europe and a frequent casual elsewhere.

Native region outside Europe:

(Origin unknown.)

Distributional map in Europe
and the Mediterranean region (2018):

Occurrences in Europe.
(from Flora Europaea pre year 1993):

Introduced in  the Azores, Britain (excl. Northern Ireland and Channel islands), Spain (incl. Andorra but excl. the Balaerics), Italy (excl. Sicily and Sardignia)

Occurrences in Europe and the Mediterranean region.
(Euro+Med Checklist, 2017) - Country codes

[cAb(A) AE(G T) cAl Au(A) aAu(L) Az aAz(C F G J L M P S T) Be BH Bl aBl(M) nBr cBu By Ca(C H P T) nCa(G) Cg ?Co aCr aCs Ct aCy aEs nGa(C F) Ge Gr aHb(E N) He Ho Hs nHs(S) aHu nIt ?La aLe cLi aLS ?Lt aLu ?Ma nMd(M P) Mo No aPo Rf(C E K N NW S) aRf(CS) aRm Sa Si(M) aSi(S) aSk Sl Sr aSu aSy cTcs Tu(A) Uk(K U)]