Common Chamomile
       Anthemis nobilis

Family: Asteraceae 
Genus: Anthemis
Species: A.nobilis

Synonyms and Common names: commonly known as Roman Camomile, Chamomile, garden camomile, ground apple, low chamomile, or whig plant

Description and Habitat: There are a number of species of Chamomile spread over Europe, North Africa and the temperate region of Asia, but in Great Britain we have four growing wild: the sweet-scented, true Chamomile (Anthemis nobilis); the Fetid Chamomile or Stinking Mayweed (A. cotula), which has what Gerard calls 'a naughty smell'; the Corn Chamomile (A. arvensis),which flowers rather earlier and is noticeable because its ray florets are empty and wholly for show and possess no sort of ovary or style, and fourthly, the Yellow Chamomile, with yellow instead of white rays, which is found sometimes on ballast heaps, but is not a true native.

The true or Common Chamomile (Anthemis nobilis) is a low-growing plant, creeping or trailing, its tufts of leaves and flowers a foot high. The root is perennial, jointed and fibrous; the stems, hairy and freely branching, are covered with leaves which are divided into thread-like segments, the fineness of which gives the whole plant a feathery appearance. The blooms appear in the later days of summer, from the end of July to September, and are borne solitary on long, erect stalks, drooping when in bud. With their outer fringe of white ray-florets and yellow centres, they are remarkably like the daisy. There are some eighteen white rays arranged round a conical centre, botanically known as the receptacle, on which the yellow, tubular florets are placed- the centre of the daisy is, however, considerably flatter than that of the Chamomile.

All the Chamomiles have a tiny, chaffy scale between each two florets, which is very minute and has to be carefully looked for, but which, all the same, is a vital characteristic of the genus Anthemis. The distinction between A. nobilis and other species of Anthemis is the shape of these scales, which in A. nobilis are short and blunt.

The fruit is small and dry, and as it forms, the hill of the receptacle gets more and more conical.

The whole plant is downy and greyish-green in colour. It prefers dry commons and sandy soil, and is found wild in Cornwall, Surrey, and many other parts of England.

Parts used: Flower heads.

Harvesting: The flower heads are collected when they are mature and expanded, from June to August. The harvesting of chamomile flowers must not be delayed: the flavour and potency of the flowers is lost once they start to darken. The chamomile flowers can be prepared for the drying process by snipping the flowers off with scissors at the base; the collected flowers must then be rinsed and patted dry or stored. The flower heads must then be placed on a rack or mesh screen and allowed to dry slowly inside a warm room or area which is airy and exposed to the sun. The flowers can be stored in the jars in the dark, when they become completely dry. The leaves of the chamomile can be harvested fresh as and when needed for the preparation of various herbal remedies.

Constituents: 0.3-2% volatile oil (including bisabolol); bitter glycosides (anthemic acid); flavone glycosides (anthemidin), coumarins (including umbelliferon and herniarin), phenolic carboxylic acids, polysaccharides, mucilage, choline, amino acids, tannins, malic acid. Blue chamazulene is formed from the sesquiterpene lactone matricin during steam distillation.

Actions: Anti-inflammatory, spasmolytic, vulnerary, antimicrobial, mild sedative, carminative, antiseptic, anticatarrhal.

Indications: Internally for spasm or inflammatory conditions of the gastrointestinal tract, peptic ulcer, flatulent or nervous dyspepsia, travel sickness, nasal catarrh, restlessness, mild sleep disorders. Specifically indicated in gastrointestinal disturbance with associated nervous irritability in children. Topically for haemorrhoids, mastitis, leg ulcers, eczema and irritations of the skin and mucosa anywhere in the body.

Therapeutics and Pharmacology: Chamomilla has a wide range of actions. It is used in the treatment of insomnia, anxiety and nervous tension, for the relief of spasmodic pain such as dysmenorrhoea or migraine, and is a  safe remedy for children’s problems with a nervous component. This spasmolytic action is due to the presence of flavones, bisabolol and other constituents of the volatile oil. This herb is particularly suited to digestive problems such as nervous dyspepsia and colic. The dicyclic ether in the volatile oil relaxes the smooth muscle, regulating peristalsis, while the carminative volatile oil reduces flatulence and irritation of the gut wall. The bitter glycosides stimulate the appetite and digestive activity, and the herb also helps relieve inflammatory conditions of the upper digestive tract. 

Chamazulene and bisabolol directly reduce inflammation in tissues with which they come into contact, stimulate the formation of granulation tissue, and have an antibacterial action. Bisabalol is also protective against ulcers. The polysaccharides have an immunostimulant action, activating macrophages and B-lymphocytes, thus demonstrating a scientific basis for the use of the herb in the topical treatment of wounds and ulcers. Chamomilla also makes an effective lotion for eczema, a mouthwash or eyewash, or as a steam inhalation for catarrh and inflamed mucous membranes.

Chamomilla has a reputation as a ‘female’ herb and has been used to relieve morning sickness, menopausal symptoms, dysmenorrhoea, mastitis, amenorrhoea with a psychological component (e.g. anorexia nervosa), and hysteria. 

Chamomilla has a traditional use on the Continent in the treatment of asthma and hayfever, probably due to the herb’s action on the mucous membranes of the upper respiratory tract. It is thought  to reduce the reaction to allergens such as pollen or dust in sensitive individuals. 

Contraindications: Do not use if you are allergic to ragweed pollens.

Pregnancy/nursing - Poorly documented adverse reactions (e.g. affects on menstrual cycle, reputed abortive effects, uterine stimulant). Avoid use during pregnancy. No clinical data are available on the use of chamomile during lactation.

Possible interactions have been reported with warfarin or cyclosporine. Because warfarin and cyclosporine have a narrow therapeutic index, patients taking either of these medications in more than modest amounts should avoid using chamomile at the same time.

No interactions caused by sedative effects or antispasmodic properties of chamomile have been reported. Use of the tea and essential oil has resulted in anaphylactic shock, contact dermatitis, and other severe allergic reactions. Persons who are allergic to asters, chrysanthemums, ragweed, and other members of the Asteraceae daisy family should avoid chamomile.

Preparation and Dosage: The infusion, made from 1 oz. of the flowers to 1 pint of boiling water and taken in doses of a tablespoonful to a wineglass, known popularly as Chamomile Tea, is an old-fashioned but extremely efficacious remedy for hysterical and nervous afflictions in women and is used also as an emmenagogue. It has a wonderfully soothing, sedative and absolutely harmless effect. It is considered a preventative and the sole certain remedy for nightmare. It will cut short an attack of delirium tremens in the early stage. It has sometimes been employed in intermittent fevers.

Chamomile Tea should in all cases be prepared in a covered vessel, in order to prevent the escape of steam, as the medicinal value of the flowers is to a considerable extent impaired by any evaporation, and the infusion should be allowed to stand on the flowers for 10 minutes at least before straining off.

Combined with ginger and alkalies, the cold infusion (made with 1/2 oz. of flowers to 1 pint of water) proves an excellent stomachic in cases of ordinary indigestion, such as flatulent colic, heartburn, loss of appetite, sluggish state of the intestinal canal, and also in gout and periodic headache, and is an appetizing tonic, especially for aged persons, taken an hour or more before a principal meal. A strong, warm infusion is a useful emetic. A concentrated infusion, made eight times as strong as the ordinary infusion, is made from the powdered flowers with oil of chamomile and alcohol and given as a stomachic in doses of 1/2 to 2 drachms, three times daily.

Chamomile flowers are recommended as a tonic in dropsical complaints for their diuretic and tonic properties, and are also combined with diaphoretics and other stimulants with advantage.

An official tincture is employed to correct summer diarrhoea in children. Chamomile is used with purgatives to prevent griping, carminative pills being made from the essential essence of the flowers. The extract, in doses of 10 to 15 grains, combined with myrrh and preparations of iron, also affords a powerful and convenient tonic in the form of a pill. The fluid extract of flowers is taken in doses of from 1/2 to 1 drachm; the oil, B.P. dose, 1/2 to 3 drops.

Apart from their employment internally, Chamomile flowers are also extensively used by themselves, or combined with an equal quantity of crushed poppy-heads, as a poultice and fomentation for external swelling, inflammatory pain or congested neuralgia, and will relieve where other remedies have failed, proving invaluable for reducing swellings of the face caused through abscesses. Bags may be loosely stuffed with flowers and steeped well in boiling water before being applied as a fomentation. The antiseptic powers of Chamomile are stated to be 120 times stronger than sea-water. A decoction of Chamomile flowers and poppyheads is used hot as fomentation to abscesses - 10 parts of Chamomile flowers to 5 of poppy capsules, to 100 of distilled water.

The whole herb is used chiefly for making herb beers, but also for a lotion, for external application in toothache, earache, neuralgia, etc. One ounce of the dried herb is infused in 1 pint of boiling water and allowed to cool. The herb has also been employed in hot fomentations in cases of local and intestinal inflammation.

Culpepper gives a long list of complaints for which Chamomile is 'profitable,' from agues and sprains to jaundice and dropsy, stating that 'the flowers boiled in lye are good to wash the head,' and tells us that bathing with a decoction of Chamomile removes weariness and eases pain to whatever part of the body it is employed. Parkinson, in his Earthly Paradise (1656), writes:

'Camomil is put to divers and sundry users, both for pleasure and profit, both for the sick and the sound, in bathing to comfort and strengthen the sound and to ease pains in the diseased.'

Turner says: 'It hath floures wonderfully shynynge yellow and resemblynge the appell of an eye . . . the herbe may be called in English, golden floure. It will restore a man to hys color shortly yf a man after the longe use of the bathe drynke of it after he is come forthe oute of the bathe. This herbe is scarce in Germany but in England it is so plenteous that it groweth not only in gardynes but also VIII mile above London, it groweth in the wylde felde, in Rychmonde grene, in Brantfurde grene.... Thys herbe was consecrated by the wyse men of Egypt unto the Sonne and was rekened to be the only remedy of all agues.'

Additional Comments & Folklore: The fresh plant is strongly and agreeably aromatic, with a distinct scent of apples - a characteristic noted by the Greeks, on account of which they named it 'ground-apple' - kamai (on the ground) and melon (an apple) - the origin of the name Chamomile. The Spaniards call it 'Manzanilla,' which signifies 'a little apple,' and give the same name to one of their lightest sherries, flavoured with this plant.

When walked on, its strong, fragrant scent will often reveal its presence before it is seen. For this reason it was employed as one of the aromatic strewing herbs in the Middle Ages, and used often to be purposely planted in green walks in gardens. Indeed walking over the plant seems specially beneficial to it.

'Like a camomile bed -
The more it is trodden
The more it will spread,'

The aromatic fragrance gives no hint of its bitterness of taste.
The Chamomile used in olden days to be looked upon as the 'Plant's Physician,' and it has been stated that nothing contributes so much to the health of a garden as a number of Chamomile herbs dispersed about it, and that if another plant is drooping and sickly, in nine cases out of ten, it will recover if you place a herb of Chamomile near it.

Called maythen by the Anglo-Saxons, it was one of the nine sacred herbs given to the world by the god Woden. The root was traditionally chewed to relieve toothache. Chamomile is used in homoeopathic medicine for inner turmoil, anxiety, anger, convulsions, throbbing headache, earache, teething, hacking coughs, dysmenorrhoea and diarrhoea.