Used for wounds, injuries, headache, jaundice, red eyes, toothache, ague, sores, burns, insect sting, chronic ulcers, varicose veins, chapped skin, chronic vomiting, liver congestion, fevers, to sooth irritants in the eye, for warts, small pox, measles, scrofula and to expel mucus.

The common Marigold flower. Marigold is chiefly used as a local remedy, although in the early days of English medieval medication it was employed in decoctions for fevers and as a hot drink to promote perspiration.

It is said to be the herbalist’s most reliable non-poisonous, nontoxic, non-irritating dressing for sores, burns, and wounds (Cly:93). It is used for chronic ulcers and varicose veins (Tob:15 1). It also helps the toothache. It has long been recommended for use in sore eyes. A Marigold flower, rubbed on the affected part, admirably takes away pain of wasp or bee sting. A lotion made with vinegar or milk is excellent for chapped skin and other external problems.

The flowers are also much used as a blood cleanser and liver remedy. The flowers and leaves were at one time thought to help in congestions of the liver, jaundice and other blockage related diseases.

An infusion of the freshly gathered flowers is employed in fevers, and it gently promotes perspiration and throws out any eruption; a decoction of the flowers is much in use in country districts to bring out small pox and measles, in the same manner as Saffron. Marigold flowers are much in demand for children’s ailments (Gri:5 18). The leaves, eaten as a salad, have been considered useful in the scrofula of children, and the acrid qualities of the plant have caused it to be recommended to eliminate warts (Ibid.). The extract is alleged to have allayed chronic vomiting.

The powdered flowers are used as a snuff to expel mucus. The infusion was formerly used to soothe watery, irritated eyes and to relieve bronchial complaints (Weiner: 127). Marigold extracts have been shown to lower blood pressure and to have sedative effects in several animal species, and it seems that the use of Marigold tea would have a beneficial effect in these conditions as well. In 1955, an Austrian patent was issued for the use of extracts of Marigold in the treatment of burns in humans (Ibid.).