- Latin name
- Calendula officinalis
- Family
- Daisy family (Asteraceae)
- Origin
- Egypt, France, Eastern Europe
- Parts used
- flowers
- Raw materials
- calendula absolute and CO₂ extract (rarely), herbal accords
- Extraction
- extraction
- Olfactory group
- floral, herbal
- Position in the pyramid
- heart
- Synthetic substitutes
- herbal and hay bases
Calendula (pot marigold) is a garden flower with bright orange and yellow heads, familiar to everyone from childhood and from pharmacy ointments. In perfumery it is used rarely and carefully: calendula absolute is thick and very distinctive.
How it smells: herbal, warm and slightly bitter: dry petals, the green of the stem, a honeyed and resinous shade, a light medicinal note. Calendula sounds natural, rustic and cosy, and a little astringent.
Calendula flowers hardly smell “floral” — their scent is closer to herbs and hay, with a light balsamic quality. So in perfume calendula adds not sweetness but a living herbal warmth and sunny colour.
What it pairs with: with chamomile and hay — a “summer meadow”, with everlasting — warm herbal honey, with rose — natural florals, with bergamot — a fresh herbal opening, with musk — soft skin scents.
Good to know: the Latin name Calendula is linked to “calendae”, the first day of the month: the plant was believed to bloom almost every month.
