Amarillo
Tagetes erecta · Mexican marigold
- Names in the book
- English: Marigold; Tagalog: Amarillo
- Used for
- Wounds, burns and boils
- Colours
- floweryellow, orange
- Native range
- Mexico and Central America
- Family
- Asteraceae
- Printed as
- Tagetes erecta Linn.
- Sources
- Healing Wonders of Herbs (1985), page 67 · Wikipedia
The plant today
Tagetes erecta, the Aztec marigold, Mexican marigold, big marigold, cempaxochitl or cempasúchil, is a species of flowering plant in the genus Tagetes native to Mexico and Central America. Despite being native to the Americas, it is often called the African marigold. In Mexico, this plant is found in the wild in the states of México, Michoacán, Puebla, Veracruz and Guerrero. This plant reaches heights of between 20 and 90 cm (7.9 and 35.4 in).
Excerpt from “Tagetes erecta” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Recorded in the Philippines
GBIF holds 59 records of this plant from the Philippines. The ones with map coordinates fall in 22 provinces, most often Davao del Sur (6), Isabela (4), Benguet (2), Bulacan (2), Cavite (2), Davao Oriental (2), Laguna (2), Aklan (2), and 14 more.
Counts from GBIF occurrence records, October 2026. They include planted trees and garden plants, and a province with no records may only lack collectors.
What the 1985 book uses it for
A record of home remedies from 1985, with the book's amounts and doses reworded. It is not medical advice.
- Abscesses and boilsCrushed leaves and flowers as a poultice.Crush 3 leaves with 2 flowers. Apply twice a day.Page 12
Summarised from Herminia de Guzman-Ladion, Healing Wonders of Herbs (Manila: Philippine Publishing House, 1985), where this plant is shown as “Amarillo” on page 67. The book is in copyright, so its wording and photographs are not reproduced. Amounts are the book's, restated.
Recent research
The most cited papers since 2022 that name this plant in the title, pulled from Europe PMC in October 2026. Titles are the authors' own and the findings have not been reviewed here.
- Antidiabetic and anti-obesity properties of a polyphenol-rich flower extract from Tagetes erecta L. and its effects on Caenorhabditis elegans fat storages
- Evaluation of phytoremediation capability of French marigold (Tagetes patula) and African marigold (Tagetes erecta) under heavy metals contaminated soils
- Inhibition of α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone-induced melanogenesis and molecular mechanisms by polyphenol-enriched fraction of Tagetes erecta L. flower