Species
+

Calendula arvensis L.

Acker-Ringelblume (DE); Field Marigold (EN); Maravilla africana (ES), Field Marigold, field-marigold, wild marigold

Climate known 58 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Calendula arvensis is a species of flowering plant in the daisy family known by the common name field marigold. It is native to central and southern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East and it is known across the globe as an introduced species.

Text from Wikipedia, “Calendula arvensis”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Calendula

Calendula is a genus of about 15–20 species of annual and perennial herbaceous plants in the daisy family, Asteraceae that are often known as marigolds. They are native to Europe, North Africa, Macaronesia, West Asia and Western Himalayas and have their center of diversity in the Mediterranean Region. Other plants known as marigolds include corn marigold, desert marigold, marsh marigold, and plants of the genus Tagetes.

Text from Wikipedia, “Calendula”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Asteraceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Sweden, Austria, Belgium +53
Wild records
1775 in range· 733 open

At a glance

Warmest month
28°C
Jul, mean day; nights 19 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
638mm/yr
11 wet months · peak Oct 81 mm (CHELSA)
Light
12–46DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a winter growing season, September to February and April in the northern hemisphere (September to February and April at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 638 mm a year, wettest October at 81 mm, driest July at 13 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 12 to 46 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -0.5 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Calendula aegyptiaca Desf.; Calendula aegyptiaca Pers.; Calendula aegyptiaca subsp. aegyptiaca; Calendula aegyptiaca subsp. crista-galli (Viv.) Lanza; Calendula aegyptiaca subsp. suberostris Boiss. and 45 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a winter growing season, September to February and April in the northern hemisphere (September to February and April at the habitat, northern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a winter growing season: 70% of the year's rain (468 mm of 638 mm) falls in September to February and April, cooler than the year (wet-season mean 12.5 °C against a yearly mean of 15.3 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: March to August and October.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 638 mm a year, wettest October at 81 mm, driest July at 13 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

638 mm a year at the habitat, 468 mm of it September to February and April. Wettest month October at 81 mm, driest July at 13 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 411 mm to 955 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 12 to 46 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 12 to 46 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 7, the highest 90th-percentile month 50).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor -0.5 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -0.5 °C, the absolute minimum -9.4 °C, about 5 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 33.1 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 3.9 °C in January (across the envelope cells 0.4 °C to 9.5 °C), warmest day 28.1 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -0.5 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 56 to 61% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 11 °C in Jan to 28 °C in Jul; mean night from 4 °C in Jan to 19 °C in Aug. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 638 mm of rain a year, most in Oct. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 1545 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -9.4 °C and the 99th-percentile day 33.1 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-20°-10°10°20°30°40°frost33.1° 99th-percentile day (undated)-9.4° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100125150mm rainDLI 12–46RH 56–61 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 1545 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C11 / 7–1512 / 8–1615 / 12–1917 / 14–2121 / 18–2425 / 21–2928 / 24–3228 / 24–3224 / 21–2920 / 17–2415 / 11–1912 / 8–16
Night °C4 / 0–104 / 1–106 / 3–118 / 5–1312 / 9–1616 / 13–1919 / 15–2219 / 15–2216 / 12–2013 / 9–188 / 4–145 / 2–11
Rain mm64 / 35–11154 / 32–9549 / 30–7759 / 27–8853 / 12–8230 / 3–6113 / 1–5725 / 2–6156 / 9–9581 / 35–11976 / 46–12478 / 42–135
DLI14 / 9–1920 / 14–2429 / 22–3336 / 30–4142 / 35–4646 / 37–5046 / 38–5040 / 33–4531 / 25–3822 / 16–2815 / 10–2112 / 7–17
RH %61 / 57–6659 / 57–6458 / 55–6258 / 54–6158 / 53–6156 / 50–6156 / 48–6157 / 49–6158 / 52–6260 / 56–6461 / 57–6661 / 57–67

Each figure is the median across the 1545 grid cells holding the 1757 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 932:3703 (43.375, 5.175). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -9.4 °C, 1st-percentile night -0.5 °C, 99th-percentile day 33.1 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 1545 distinct grid cells holding the 1757 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 932:3703 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 43.50_5.000, lapse-corrected +23 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 80 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeSweden, Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, Baleares, Corse, France, Portugal, Sardegna, Spain, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Kriti, Romania, Sicilia, Turkey-in-Europe, Yugoslavia, Baltic States, Krym, Ukraine, Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Azores, Canary Is., Cape Verde, Madeira, Chad, Turkmenistan, Tadzhikistan, Transcaucasus, Afghanistan, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Iran, Iraq, Lebanon-Syria, Palestine, Sinai, Turkey, Gulf States, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Pakistan, West Himalaya· introduced: Great Britain, KwaZulu-Natal, Korea, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, California, Uruguay
Kew's description“annual” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker38.308, -0.849 · in the densest population, 646 records (36% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1775 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 733 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 565 km away. 70 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 18 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 2° block of the 1775 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Calendula arvensisCalendula arvensisCalendula arvensisCalendula arvensisCalendula arvensisCalendula arvensisCalendula arvensisCalendula arvensis

Photographs: no rights reserved · CC0; (c) zebedeugalinha, some rights reserved (CC BY) (7).

Photographs: iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Calendula arvensis, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Comparative assessment of antioxidant and cholinesterase inhibitory properties of the marigold extracts from Calendula arvensis L. and Calendula officinalis L.
Tuğba Erçeti̇n, Fatma Sezer Şenol, İlkay Erdoğan Orhan, Gülnur Toker (2011) · Industrial Crops and Products
Chemical Variability, Antioxidant and Antifungal Activities of Essential Oils and Hydrosol Extract of Calendula arvensis L. from Western Algeria
R. Belabbès, Mohammed El Amine Dib, Nassim Djabou, Ilias Faiza (2017) · Chemistry & Biodiversity
Chemical composition, intraspecies variation and seasonal variation in essential oils of Calendula arvensis L.
Julien Paolini, Toussaint Barboni, J.M. Desjobert, Nassim Djabou (2010) · Biochemical Systematics and Ecology
Effect of plant nectars on adult longevity of the stinkbug parasitoid,Trissolcus basalis
Samina Rahat, Geoff M. Gurr, S. D. Wratten, Jianhua Mo (2005) · International Journal of Pest Management
Structure and In Vitro Antiviral Activity of Sesquiterpene Glycosides from Calendula arvensis
Nunziatina De Tommasi, Cosimo Pizza, Cinzia Conti, N Orsi (1990) · Journal of Natural Products
Palynology of Family Asteraceae from Flora of Rawalpindi- Pakistan
Muhammad Zafar, Mushtaq Ahmad, Mir Ajab Khan (2007)
Anticandidal, antibacterial, cytotoxic and antioxidant activities of Calendula arvensis flowers
Abdul-Malik Abudunia, Ilias Marmouzi, My El Abbés Faouzi, Youssef Ramli (2016) · Journal de Mycologie Médicale
The attractiveness of flowering herbaceous plants to bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) and hoverflies (Diptera: Syrphidae) in agro‐ecosystems of Central Spain
Jelena Barbir, Francisco Rubén Badenes‐Pérez, César Fernández‐Quintanilla, José Dorado (2014) · Agricultural and Forest Entomology
Structure andin vitroAntiviral Activity of Triterpenoid Saponins fromCalendula arvensis*
Nunziatina De Tommasi, Cinzia Conti, Maria Luisa Stein, Cosimo Pìzza (1991) · Planta Medica

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Calendula 1 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 171 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.