This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this articlebyadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Tagetes minuta" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (August 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Tagetes minuta is a tall upright marigold plant from the genus Tagetes, with small flowers, native to the southern half of South America.[2] Since Spanish colonization, it has been introduced around the world, and has become naturalized in Europe, Asia, Australasia, North America, and Africa.[2] Tagetes minuta has numerous local names that vary by region. In the Andes it is known as Huacatay or Wacatay, and in other regions it is common as chinchilla, chiquilla, chilca, zuico, suico, or anisillo.[3] Other names include muster John Henry,[4] southern marigold,[5] khakibos, stinking roger,[6] wild marigold,[2] and black mint. It is called by the Quechua terms huacatay in Peru[7]orwakataya in Bolivia.[8]
| Tagetes minuta | |
|---|---|
| |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Asterales |
| Family: | Asteraceae |
| Genus: | Tagetes |
| Species: |
T. minuta
|
| Binomial name | |
| Tagetes minuta | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
| |
It is used as a culinary herbinPeru, Ecuador, and parts of Chile and Bolivia. It is commonly sold in Latin grocery stores in a bottled, paste format as black mint paste.
This species of marigold may grow to become from 0.6–2 meters tall.[3]
Tagetes minuta has been eaten in various forms since pre-Columbian times.[3] Dried leaves may be used as a seasoning and huacatay paste is used to make the popular Peruvian potato dish called ocopa. An herbal tea can be brewed from the leaves. An extraction of the plant, "Marigold oil", is used in the perfume, tobacco, and soft drink industry.[3]
In addition to food, the plant can be used to produce dye,[9] and as a green manure crop for biomass and a bio-fumigant for control of selected species of nematodes.
The oils contained in the oil glands that are found throughout the above ground portions of the plant may cause irritation to the skin and in some cases are said to cause photodermatitis.[3]
![Kawunyira[clarification needed] at Entebbe, Uganda](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tagetes_minuta_at_Entebbe.jpg)
Media related to Tagetes minuta at Wikimedia Commons
Data related to Tagetes minuta at Wikispecies