Progress in Essential Oils: Calendula officinalis L.

Calendula officinalis L., which is known in the United Kingdom as poet’s marigold, is also known as pot marigold, Scotch marigold, garden marigold, common marigold, etc. It is a considerably branched annual member of the Asteraceae (Compositae family). A limited amount of oil is produced from this common garden ornamental plant.

Calendula officinalis flowers that were collected from the Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops (Novi Sad, Serbia) were separately subjected to hydrodistillation and supercritical and subcritical fluid CO2 extraction using a range of pressures. The hydrodistilled oil was produced in 0.05% yield, while the supercritical CO2 extractions were carried out at 40°C at 100 bar, 200 bar and 300 bar for 3 hrs. In contrast, the subcritical extraction was carried out at 15°C at 60 bar, 90 bar and 120 bar for three hours. The oils and extracts were analyzed by both GC-FID and GC/MS by Petrovic et al. (2007). 

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