Daisies and Thistles 183 
taste, for Chamomile has long been popular in 
medicine on account of its bitter tonic properties, 
which have also made it valuable as a febrifuge. 
You cannot walk in the neighbourhood of Chamomile 
without detecting its presence by the sweet aroma. 
Yet in the same genus is placed the Stinking May- 
weed (A. cotula), which, though not differing widely 
in appearance, is as forbidding as the other is 
attractive. Its leaves lack the downiness and the 
fragrance of the Chamomile, and instead are covered 
with numerous glands from which exudes a nauseous 
acrid fluid, which not only offends the nostrils, but 
burns and blisters the hands of those whose business 
it is to weed the cultivated fields where it grows. 
The flowers of this Stinking Mayweed differ from 
those of Chamomile and Daisy in the fact that its 
ray-florets are usually barren—containing neither 
stamens nor pistils. 
Somewhat similar to the foregoing are the species 
of Matricaria, to one species of which (7. chamomilla) 
the misleading name of Wild Chamomile has been 
given, because it reproduces in a weaker fashion the 
pleasing fragrance of the Chamomile. They may be 
at once distinguished from the species of Anthemis 
by the obvious fact that the flower-heads instead of 
being borne singly at the end of a long stalk are 
combined into a corymb. This kind of flower group- 
ing is produced by the frequent branching of the 
flowering stem at its upper part, but the short 
branches which are also the foot-stalks of the flower- 
heads are of different lengths, so that the flower-heads 
are all brought to the same plane. It is the practical 
result of the umbel attained by a different method, 
