HERB - chamomile

Katherine Blackthorne kblkthrn at midtown.net
Thu May 14 20:03:04 PDT 1998


> Galen, you posted a quote from "Herbs of Choice"
> 
> >"For example, so-called true chamomile flowers were once said to be
derived
> >from Matricaria chamomilla L. pro parte or from Chamomilla recutita L
> >(Rauschert). More recently, Matricaria recutita L. has become the
preferred
> >designation. All of these Latin names refer to the identical plant. The
> >herb is also referred to by a wide variety of common names, including
> >Matricaria (once the official National Formulary title), true chamomile,
> >German chamomile, ..."
> 
> I found this a fascinating quote because the annual chamomile, M.
recutita, is
> being called the true chamomile while most of the information that I have
> calls the perennial chamomile, Chamaemelum nobile (Roman, common or
double
> chamomile), the true chamomile.  In fact, the book I tend to trust most,
THE
> ENCYCLOPEDIA OF HERBS AND HERBALISM (Malcolm Stuart, 1979, Crown
Publishers,
> Inc.) says specifically that M. recutita "... in botanical terms it is
not a
> true chamomile and it is also sometimes called Sweet False Chamomile."
(German
> or wild chamomile)  Both belong to the same family, though, the
Compositae or
> Asteraceae <G>.
> 
> However intriguing this confusion is, it strays a little from the
original
> question, which is German chamomile and which is Roman chamomile <G>. 
The
> annual is German chamomile and the perennial is Roman chamomile.  Both
are
> used the same way. 
> 
> Raisya

At least now I know why I can never keep these two straight -- I seems a
much more confusing area than I realized!

--Katherine
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