Tagetes erecta
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| Tagetes erecta | ||||||||||||||
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 Mexican marigolds
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| Tagetes erecta |
Tagetes erecta, the Mexican marigold, is a species of the genus Tagetes native to Mexico and Central America. In Mexico, this plant is found in the wild in the states of San Luis Potosí, Chiapas, State of México, Puebla, Sinaloa, Tlaxcala and Veracruz. This plant reaches heights of between 50 and 100 cm. The Aztecs gathered the wild plant as well as cultivating it for medicinal, ceremonial and decorative purposes.
Its flower, the cempasúchil is also called the Flower of the Dead in Mexico ("Flor de Muertos") and is used in the Día de los Muertos celebration every November 2nd. The word cempasúchil (also spelled cempazúchil) comes from the Nahuatl term for the flower zempoalxochitl, literally translated as "twenty flower".
Since prehispanic times, this plant has been used for medicinal purposes. It has been used to treat stomach ache, parasites, diarrhea, liver illnesses, vomiting, indigestion and toothache among other illnesses. Scientific study shows that thiophenes, natural phytochemicals that are include sulfur-containing rings, may be the active ingredients. They have been shown to kill gram negative and gram positive bacteria in vitro.
