CALEN'DULA ASTE'RIAS. 
STARRED MARYGOLD. 
Class. Order. 
SYNGENESIA. NECESSARIA. 
Natural Order. 
COMPOSITE. 
Native of 
Height. 
Flowers in 
Duration. 
Introduced 
N. Europe- 
18 inches. 
October. 
Annual. 
in 1838. 
No. 766. 
The perpetual flowering of the officinal Mary- 
gold seems to have given occasion for the name. 
Calendula, from calendae, whence also our word cal- 
ends, signifying the first day of every month. Aste- 
rias, the specific name, alludes, we presume, to the 
little florets of the disk, and not to the general star- 
like appearance of the entire flower; it may, how- 
ever, be applied to either. Keats looked to the 
entire flow^er, and says, 
“ Open afresh your round of starry folds, 
Ye ardent Marygolds ! 
Dry up the moisture of your golden lids, 
For great Apollo bids 
That in these days your praises shall be sung 
On many harps which he has lately strung.” 
This plant, Avhich is quite distinct from the offi- 
cinal Marygold, was raised in the Birmingham 
Horticultural Society’s Garden, in 1838. Its seeds 
were received there from St. Petersburgh, under 
Meyer and Fischer’s name of Calendula asterias. 
It is very hardy, and will flower and ripen seeds 
in any common garden soil. It continues in beauty 
from August to October. 
