marigold

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Any of various American plants of the genus Tagetes, widely cultivated for their showy yellow or orange flowers.
2. n. Any of several plants related to the marigold or having similar flowers, such as the marsh marigold.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. Properly, a composite plant of either of the genera Calendula and Tagetes. C. officinalis is the common garden- or pot-marigold, of some use in dyeing and medicine. (See cut under bract.) The species of Tagetes bear the name of African or French marigold, though their origin is in South America and Mexico. T. erecta, the specific African marigold, is stout and erect, with club-shaped peduncles and orange- or lemon-colored heads. T. patula, the specific French marigold, has cylindrical peduncles and narrower heads, the rays orange or with darker stripes. The Cape marigolds, from South Africa, are species of Dimorphotheca, formerly classed under Calendula. D. pluvialis, with white rays, closes in dark weather. The name is also applied to various other chiefly golden-flowered plants, commonly with an adjective or in composition.
2. n. A piece of gold money: so called from its color.

Wiktionary

1. n. Any garden flower plant of the genus Calendula, with orange, yellow or reddish flowers.
2. n. Any plant of the genus Tagetes, a flowering plant with orange, yellow or reddish flowers.
3. adj. Having the color of marigolds, a bright yellowish-orange hue.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Bot.) A name for several plants with golden yellow blossoms, especially the Calendula officinalis (see calendula), and the cultivated species of Tagetes.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. any of various tropical American plants of the genus Tagetes widely cultivated for their showy yellow or orange flowers