CHAMOMILE, kiinC6-mil. or CAMOMILE (OF. coma millc, :Med. Lat. camamilla, Lat. cha in ma ilia, from ( k. rhamai. on the ground + m(lon. apple). A genus of plants of the natural color Composite. sub order Tubulillone, distinguished by imbricated bracts. a scaly conical receptacle. a ray of one row of female florets. those of the disk hermaph rodite. the achamia obscurely four-cornered. and destitute of pappus. The species are annual and perennial herbaceous plants. chiefly natives of Europe and other temperate parts of the world. The common chamomile (.1 athemis nobilis), the Roman or true chamomile. the most impor tant species of the genus. well known for its medicinal virtues, is a perennial plant with a stem about a foot long, proemnbent 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 in tensely hitter and highly aromatic. It contains a bitter principle. tannin, and a volatile oil, oil of chamomile, which abounds most of all in the involuere. The dried flowers constitute the part used in medicine: the infusion made from them is used to a slight extent as a stomachic tonic, especially in convalescence. The German chamo
mile. or Slatricaria, consists of the flowers of Matricaria rhamomilla. This is called wild ehanannile in Great Britain. Its flowers are smaller and the taste and odor stronger and less pleasant. No small quantity of common chamomile is illegally used in the manufacture of beer in England, and it is imported from Ger many for this purpose. Yet this plant is so abundant in some parts of the south 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 chamomile are mere weeds; one of them. called stinking chamomile (Anthem is cotulal, is so acrid as to blister the fingers if much handled. But the flowers of the oxeye chamomile, or dyer's chamomile ( int hemis 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.