CHAMOMILE, or CAMOMILE, Anthemis, a genus of plants of the natural order compos ite. sub-order corynzbiferce, distinguished by imbricated bracts, a scaly conical receptacle, a ray of one row of female florets, those of the disk hermaphrodite, the achtenia obscurely four-cornered, and destitute of pappus. The species are annual and perennial herba ceous plants, chiefly natives of Europe and other temperate parts of the world. Several are found in Britain, amongst which is the COMMON C. (A. nobais), the most important species of the genus, well known for its medicinal virtues, a perennial plant with a stem about a foot long, procumbent and much branched, each branch terminated by a flower (head of flowers) more than an inch broad, with yellow disk and white ray, the whole plant intensely bitter and highly aromatic. Its medicinal virtues are ascribed to the essential oil which it contains, oil of chamomile, which abounds most of all in the invo lucre. This oil is of a greenish-yellow color, and is used in the preparation of some medicines. The dried flowers are often administered in the form of an infusion, as a stimulant of the nerves of the abdomen, an alterative and antispasmodic; or are applied to the skin as an anodyne, and on account of their power of promoting absorption and suppuration. The infusion also acts as an emetic, and is often used to assist the action of other emetics. C. flowers find a place in the pharmacopoeia, and are also amongst the most esteemed of domestic medicines, the plant being extensively cultivated for their sake, and very generally finding a place even in cottage-gardens. Yet they ought to be used with caution, as they have been known to produce congestion in the brain, and are very apt to aggravate any malady of this kind already existing. A double-flowering
variety of C. is more generally cultivated than the single, to supply the C. flowers of the shops, the flowers being whiter and more bulky, but it is otherwise rather inferior. C. is easily propagated by parting the roots. It delights in a dry and rather poor soil.—The name WILD C. is given to a very similar plant, also a native of Britain (matricaria cham omilla), an annual belonging to a genus closely allied to anthonis. It may readily be distinguished by the want of scales on the receptacle. Its medicinal virtues resemble those of common C., and although now disused in Britain, it is in some parts of Europe preferred for internal use, because it is less bitter, less nauseous, and generally milder and more agreeable in its operation.—No small quantity of common C. is illegally used in the manufacture of beer in England, and is imported from Germany for this purpose. Yet this plant is so abundant in some parts of the s. of England as to form a principal part of the pasture in sheep-walks, and to fill the whole air with its scent. The other British species of C. (anthemis) are mere weeds; one of them, called stinking C. (A. cotula), is so acrid as to blister the fingers, if much handled. But the flowers of the Ox-EYE C., or DyEn's C. (A. tinctoria), a native of many parts of the continent of Europe, yield a beautiful yellow dye, on account of which the plant is often cultivated.