Chamomile Essential Oil
The name Chamomile or Camomile
Chamomile flowers
- German chamomile Matricaria recutita (syn. M. chamomilla)
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German Chamomile (Matricaria recutita) is an annual plant of the sunflower family Asteraceae. Synonyms are : Chamomilla chamomilla, Chamomilla recutita (accepted name according to the Flora Europaea), Matricaria chamomilla, and Matricaria suaveolens.
It usually grows near people all over Europe and temperate Asia. It is widely introduced in temperate North America and Australia. As the seeds need open soil to survive, it often grows near roads, around landfills and in cultivated fields as a weed.
Other names include Wild Chamomile and Scented Mayweed.
The branched stem is erect and smooth and grows to a height of 15-60 cm. The long and narrow leaves are bipinnate or tripinnate.
The flowers are borne in paniculate capitula. The white ray florets are furnished with a ligule, while the disc florets are yellow. The hollow receptacle is swollen and lacks scales. This property distinguished German Chamomile from Corn Chamomile (Anthemis arvensis), which has a receptacle with scales. The flowers bloom in June and July.
Matricaria recutitaThe flowers have a strong, aromatic smell. German chamomile is used medicinally against sore stomach and as a relaxant to help you fall asleep. It is best taken as a herbal tea, two teaspoons of dried flower per cup of tea. Against sore stomach take one cup every morning without food for 2-3 months. It is also used as a mouthwash against oral mucositis.[Juneby’s Medicinal Plants]. It has also acaricidal properties against certains mites, such as Psoroptes cuniculi.
Chamomile is also used cosmetically, primarily to make a rinse for blonde hair.
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The pineapple weed is an annual plant native to western North America and NE Asia but which has become a cosmopolitan weed. It is in the family Asteraceae. The flower head is cone-shaped, composed of dense-packed yellowish-green corollas, and lacking ray-florets. The leaves are pinnately dissected and sweet-scented when crushed. The plant grows 3 to 12 inches (7.5 - 30 cm) high.
According to ITIS the specific name is Matricaria discoides DC, but many synonyms are in the literature, including M. matricarioides, M. suaveolens, and Chamomilla suaveolens(an accepted name according to Flora Europaea).
The plant grows well in disturbed areas, especially those with poor, compacted soil. It can be seen blooming on footpaths, roadsides, and similar places in spring and early summer. Can be found from central Alaska down to California, and east into the Rocky Mountains.
The flowers have a chamomile/pineapple aroma (press between your fingers to release this scent). They are edible and quite good in salads (although they may become bitter by the time the plant blooms), and can also be used to make a delicious tea [1][2].
Pineapple weed has many useful medicinal properties. In a tea, it acts to calm the nerves and stomach, as well as expell gas from the digestive tract. The plant when crushed and applied externally acts to hinder itching and sooth sores.
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Anthemis nobilis, commonly known as Roman camomile, camomile, garden camomile, ground apple, low camomile, or whig plant, is a low European perennial plant found in dry fields and around gardens and cultivated grounds. The stem is procumbent, the leaves alternate, bipinnate, finely dissected, and downy to glabrous. The solitary, terminal flowerheads, rising 8 to twelve inches above the ground, consist of prominent yellow disk flowers and silver-white ray flowers. The flowering time is June and July.
Anodyne, antispasmodic, aromatic, bitter tonic, stimulant stomachic. Camomile infusion is good for flatulent colic, dyspepsia, and for fever and restlessness in children. It also makes a good wash for open sores and wounds. Chamomile oil can be taken internally for colic, spasms, and stomach cramps. The flowers can also be made into a rubbing oil for swellings, callouses and painful joints.
Preparation and dosage
Infusion: 1 tbsp. flowers with 1 cup water; steep for 30 minutes.
Tincture: Take 10 to 20 drops in water
Oil: Take 6 drops
Culture
The chamomile is mentioned in Shakespeare’s Henry IV, part 1 ’The Camomile; The more it is trodden on, the faster it grows’.
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Anthemis is a genus of about 100 species of aromatic herbs in the Asteraceae, closely related to Chamaemelum, and like that genus, known by the common name Chamomile; some species are also called Mayweed or Dog-fennel. They are native to the Mediterranean region and southwest Asia east to Iran.
Cultivation and Uses
The flowers are commonly used for tea, and the leaves, when crushed, give off a scent of apples. It grows well in light, sandy soil. Nicknamed “the plants’ physician”, it seems to improve the health of other plants grown near it. Chamomile flowers make a good rinse for fair hair.
Chamomile
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article “Chamomile”.