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Activities:
Anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antimicrobial, antiseptic, immunomodulatory, photoprotective
Important Chemical Components:
Triterpenoids (i.e., sesquiterpene lactones, faradiol, taraxasterol), flavonoids (i.e., quercetin, rutin, isorhamnetin, kaempferol, narcissin), phenolic acids, ubiquinone (CoQ10) and other quinines (including polyprenylquinones), mucilages, saponins, carotenoids (i.e., β-carotene, lutein, lycopene, xanthophylls), essential oils (1,8-cineole, α-pinene, α-thujene, dihydrotagetone, T-muurolol), resins, sterins, sugars, sterins, sterols, tocopherols1–7
Origin Classification:
This ingredient is natural. Organic forms exist.
Personal Care Category:
Analgesic, anti-inflammatory
Recommended for the following Baumann Skin Types:
DSNT, DSNW, DSPT, DSPW, OSNT, OSNW, OSPT, and OSPW
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Popularly known as pot marigold, garden marigold, holligold/holigold, marigold, marybud, common marigold, maravilla, ruddles, and goldbloom, Calendula officinalis is a bright, flowering annual herb native to Asia, central and southern Europe, northern Africa, and the Mediterranean region.2,8 Despite one of its appellations, it is not related to the garden marigolds of the Tagetes genus, also within the Asteraceae (or Compositae) family.9 Like many other members of the Asteraceae family, which includes daisies, arnica, feverfew, chamomile, edelweiss, and yarrow, calendula is now cultivated throughout the world (see Chapter 70, Chamomile, and Chapter 72, Edelweiss). Like many other popular herbs, calendula is valued for its culinary and medicinal uses and is cultivated for ornamental purposes. Through traditional use, calendula has long been considered a soothing herb that, more recently, has been found to possess anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and antioxidant properties.6,7,10 Today, its primary indications are cutaneous and inflammatory conditions, scalds, bruises, boils, rashes, and first-degree burns, including sunburns8,11 (Table 71-1).
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In ancient Rome, calendula was regarded for its properties in breaking fevers. It was used as a topical anti-inflammatory agent prior to the 12th century in medieval Europe,12 where its use further spread in the 13th century,13 when it was grown in monastery gardens and used for wound healing. Calendula has continued to serve as a staple among topical and systemic homeopathic remedies through the succeeding centuries.1,11 In the 1860s, it was used to treat battle wounds during the United States Civil War. Essentially, the antiseptic properties were seen to prevent gangrene and clean and repair wounds. Further, calendula has been used traditionally for treating an array of burns, bruises, skin tumors, cutaneous lesions, gastric ulcers and other stomach ailments, dysmenorrhea, edema, jaundice, and nervous disorders.3,9 In Bulgarian folk medicine, it has been used as an anti-inflammatory, antipyretic, and antitumorigenic agent.14 In Ayurvedic and Unani medicine, C. officinalis has been noted for conferring anti-inflammatory, antipyretic, antiepileptic, and antimicrobial activity.3...