Matricaria chamomilla (German Chamomile)
Also known as: | Wild Chamomile, Scented Mayweed |
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Genus: | Matricaria |
Family: | Asteraceae (Aster) |
Life cycle: | annual |
Origin: | Europe, Asia |
Status: |
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Habitat: | sun; average to dry disturbed soil; roadsides, railroads, waste places, gardens |
Bloom season: | June - October |
Plant height: | 6 to 24 inches |
Wetland Indicator Status: | none |
MN county distribution (click map to enlarge): | ![]() |
National distribution (click map to enlarge): | ![]() |
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Detailed Information
Flower:
Daisy-type flowers, single at the tips of branching stems. Flowers are ½ to 1 inch across with 10 to 25 white petals (ray flowers) and a yellow to greenish-yellow center disk that expands from button-shaped to dome-shaped as it matures. The disk is hollow at the core.
The bracts surrounding the base of the flower are in 3 layers, narrowly lance-oblong, green with membranous edging. Bracts and flower stalks are hairless.
Leaves and stems:
Leaves are ½ to 3 inches long, feathery with a few to numerous thread-like branching lobes. Stems are usually multiple from the base, erect to ascending, many branched in the upper plant, ribbed or lined, and hairless. Plants are aromatic when bruised.
Fruit: 
The center disk becomes a round head of dry, gray-brown seed that lack tufts of hair. Seeds are less than 1mm long, cone-shaped to oblong, round in cross-section, have 3 to 5 white ribs, and gland-dotted (magnification required).
Notes:
German Chamomile, also known as Matricaria recutita, has a long history of medicinal uses, cultivated globally and occasionally escapes cultivation but is not known to invade high quality habitat. Of similar species, the related Pineapple-weed (M. discoidea) lacks ray flowers, Dog Fennel (Anthemis cotula) leaves have broader and flatter lobes and a distinct, unpleasant odor when crushed, and Scentless False Mayweed (Tripleurospermum inodorum) has larger flowers with a solid core on the disk and is not aromatic. Feel free to rip the disks open and see whether they're hollow or solid. These are all weeds, after all.
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More photos
German Chamomile plant
German Chamomile plants
German Chamomile plants
German Chamomile plants
German Chamomile disk is hollow, compared to Scentless False Mayweed
Photos by K. Chayka and Peter M. Dziuk taken in their gardens.
Comments
Have you seen this plant in Minnesota, or have any other comments about it?