1249

 

Tagetes erecta L.

Synonym	:	Tagetes corymbosa Sweet
Family	:	Compositae
Local name	:	English         - Marigold Malayalam  - Chendumalli
Flowering and fruiting period	:	Throughout the year
Distribution	:	Native of Central America
Distribution in kerala	:	All Districts
Habitat	:	Cultivated, also runs wild
Endemic / Exotic	:	Exotic
Uses	:	Used for digestive tract problems including poor appetite, gas, stomach pain, colic, intestinal worms, and dysentery. It is also used for coughs, colds, mumps, fluid retention, and sore eyes; and causing sweating.
Key Botanical Characters  : An erect, stout, branching herb15-60 cm tall with glabrous angular stems. Leaves strong-scented, pinnately divided, 2.5-15 cm long; segments 11-17, lanceolate, 1-5 cm long and 0.2-1 cm wide, acute or attenuate at apex, attenuate at base, margins serrate. Flower heads solitary, lemon-yellow to orange, 5-10 cm across; rays many, long-clawed, sometimes 2-lipped or quilled, involucre campanulate. Achenes 6-7 mm long, pappus scaly.