Sea Marigold (Trailing Calendula)

Calendula maritima Origin: Trapani, Sicily, Italy Improvement status: Wild Seeds per packet: ~20 BOTANICAL SAMPLE - NOT GERMINATION TESTED Life cycle: Annual Most gardeners and nearly all herbalists are familiar with garden calendula or pot marigold (Calendula officinalis), but few know this rare wild calendula relative found today only in a few places in extreme western Sicily. Called calendula marittima in its native Sicily, or Sea Marigold in English, this species is one of the rarest calendula wild relatives in the world. (Botanists haven't yet come to consensus on whether its Latin name should be Calendula maritima or Calendula suffriticosa subsp. maritima.) Endemic to the northwestern coast of Sicily in and around the city of Trapani, this critically endangered species has suffered greatly from coastal development (including, it seems, the industrial-scale salt-flats apparent in the satellite view of the place where this particular accession was collected a few decades ago). Sea