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Calendula maritima

This perennial plant reaches a height between 20 and 40 cm. The stems which can easily lignified on the underparts and the leaves are covered with short sticky hairs. The young stems are first erected, later they began to hang and spreads to the soil. In contrast to the Pot marigold the leaves are fleshy and have a strong smell. The form of the leaves vary from egg-shaped to linear depending on their placement on the stems. The basket-shaped blossoms have a diameter between three and five centimetres and consists of pale yellow single-standing petals. The main flowering period is from May to June.

Calendula maritima, known as the Sea Marigold, is a very rare species from the family of Asteraceae. Some scientists regarded it as subspecies Calendula suffruticosa subsp. maritima (Guss.) Meikle. It is endemic to Sicily. More