Matricaria Recutita - With translation text

Matricaria recutita, commonly known as chamomile, is a plant of the composite family Asteraceae. It comes from Southern and Eastern Europe. Nowadays it can be found through America, Australia and Europe. The commercial drug is provided from crops. These can be found in Argentina, Egypt, Bulgaria and Hungary. It’s an annual and glabrous plant. It’s herbaceous and it can grow up to 50cm high. It grows easily in drained lands, with quite a lot of sun and it is resistant to frosts, lack of nutrients and acid lands. Its leaves are sessile, alternate, bipinnately and with lineal and small leaflet. They have intense green colour. It has a compound inflorescences, capitulum. The flowers form a radial symmetry and are approximately 2cm big. They can easily be confused with daisies. The androecium is formed by 5 stamens. The gynoecium consists of two fused carpels. The ovary is inferior. It has entomophily pollination. The flowering season is mainly between May and August. The fruit is achene. It is dry and indehiscent, it only contains one seed. The fruit is smooth on the outside and with five ribs on the inside. It’s aromatic and with a bitter taste. The root grows laterally. Its stem is branched, erect and smooth with a strong smell. It contains a huge amount of essences produced by cavities of the receptacles. Those are rich with polyphenols. It tastes kind of bitter and its smell is pleasant and smooth. The flower can be used either dry or fresh to prepare infusions. It’s considered to be digestive, carminative, sedative, tonic, vasodilator and antispasmodic. It may cause dermatitis if touched to sensitive persons. There have been cases of anaphylaxis.