Cempasúchil
The Mexican name for the orange marigold Tagetes erecta, the flower of the Day of the Dead.
Also: cempazúchitl, flor de muerto, Mexican marigold
Cempasúchil comes from a Nahuatl name usually explained as twenty flower, or flower of many petals. The plant is native to Mexico and Central America and was grown there long before the Spanish arrived. In late October it fills markets and fields. It is piled on altars and graves, strung into arches and scattered as petal paths. The same species travelled around the world and is the genda of Indian garlands, known in English, misleadingly, as the African marigold.