CAMOMILE
(Anthemis nobilis)
common camomile, chamomile, Roman chamomile, ground apple, whig plant

Description: Low growing creeping or trailing plant with tufts of leaves and flowers, 1 ft. high. Root, perennial, jointed and fibrous. Stems, hairy, freely branching, covered with leaves, alternate, bipinate, finely dissected, downy to glabrous with sweet apple-scent. Solitary terminal daisy-like flower heads have a yellow conical center with 18 outer silver-white ray flowers drooping when in bud. Found throughout U.S. as a common weed in dry fields, around gardens, cultivated grounds.

Medicinal: Anodyne, antispasmodic, carminative, sedative, aromatic, tonic, stimulant. Helpful for gas, colic, fevers and restlessness in children, urinary infections and diaper rash. Use 2 tbsp. flowers to 2 cups water, heat to just short of boiling. Soothes toothache, earache, sore nipples and neuralgia, suppresses nausea, reduces inflammation and dark shadows under the eyes. As a poultice, to treat eczema and wounds. An oil, made of the flowers, for swellings, calluses and painful joints.

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