CHAMOMILE 669 



in length, corolla white, 3-toothed, 4-nerved, ovary about 1 mm. in 

 length, glandular, style slender, stigma bi-cleft; tubular florets few 

 or none, lemon-yellow, perfect; achene oblong, pappus none; odor 

 distinct; taste aromatic and bitter. 



Inner Structure. Bracts having scattered, somewhat thick- 

 walled, unicellular hairs and occasional sessile glandular hairs; 

 pollen grains, occasional, spheroidal about 0.030 mm. in diameter, 

 the cuticle being very prickly; sclerenchymatous fibers about 0.010 

 mm. in width and having very thick walls; papillae of corolla and 

 stigma; small rosette aggregates of calcium oxalate occasionally 

 present; characteristic cells of anther. 



Constituents. Volatile oil, which is bluish-green when fresh, 

 0.8 to 1 per cent; a bitter crystalline glucoside anthemic acid (see 

 Matricaria) ; 5.25 per cent of resin ; 1.50 per cent of a bitter crystalline 

 wax ; and tannin. The volatile oil consists principally of the isobutyl, 

 amyl and hexyl esters of butyric, angelic and tiglic acids, and anthe- 

 mol, an isomer of camphor. 



MATRICARIA. Wild or German Chamomile. The flower-heads 

 of Matricaria Chamomilla (Fam. Composite), an annual herb, indig- 

 enous to Europe and western Asia, and naturalized in Australia and 

 certain parts of the United States, including New York and Penn- 

 sylvania. The flower-heads are collected, when they are mature or 

 expanded, from wild. plants. 



Description. Rounded, conical, 3 to 10 mm. in breadth; ped- 

 uncle 0.5 to 3.5 cm. in length, nearly glabrous; involucre hemispher- 

 ical, scales twenty to thirty, imbricated, oblanceolate, the middle 

 portion brownish, margin whitish, pubescent; torus ovoid, becoming 

 conical and hollow, deeply pitted, naked, 3 to 5 mm. in height, about 

 1.5 mm. in diameter; ray or ligulate florets, twelve to eighteen, pis- 

 tillate, about 12 mm. in length, corolla white, 3-toothed, 4-veined; 

 disk or tubular flowers, numerous, yellowish, perfect, oblong, small, 

 somewhat glandular, about 2.5 mm. in length; achenes somewhat 

 obovoid, about 0.5 mm. in length; faintly 3- to 5-ribbed; pappus 

 none, or forming a membranous crown; odor distinct; taste aromatic 

 and bitter. 



Inner Structure. Pollen grains numerous, from 0.018 to 0.025 

 mm. in diameter, nearly spheroidal or triangular from the 3 pores, 



ago Farfara). N, ligulate floret of marigold (Calendula officinalis); 0, one of 

 the hairs of corolla. P, pappus of yellow goafs-beard (Tragopogon pra- 

 tensis); R, one of the long slender hairs in the pappus; S, hair from akene. 

 T, two double hairs from akene of Tagetes tenuifolia, c, corolla; t, stigma; 

 s, stamens; p, pappus. 



