LIFE HISTORIES 

 OF FAMILIAR PLANTS 



CHAPTER I 



THE WILD CAMOMILE (Matricaria Chamomilla) : 

 A WEED OF EMINENCE 



The wild camomile is a most accommodating 

 plant. It only needs the slightest introduction 

 to make itself quite comfortably " at home." I 

 well remember its advent in a field at the top 

 of the lane. Some seasons back the farmer cul- 

 tivated this field with swedes, and it was then 

 that the camomile got its chance. How the 

 first seeds came there I am not prepared to 

 say ; most probably they came with the seeds of 

 the root crop, for there are no other fields in 

 the near vicinity that, to my knowledge, offer 

 friendly shelter to this weed. Or, it may be, a 

 bird had been feeding on the seeds at some dis- 

 tant spot and flew down into this field one wet 

 day, bringing a single seed adhering with a little 

 mud to one of its feet. That would be quite 

 sufficient, provided the seed had a little open 

 space in which to make a start ; the camomile 

 would do all the rest ! 



B I 



