CAMLET. 



CAMOMILE. 



and water the plants plentifully when in 

 flower. 



CAMLET (Fr. camelot : Ital. dambelotto ; 

 Span, camlote ; from the Gr. jc*>iAa>T>t). A 

 stuff or cloth made of wool, silk, and some- 

 times of hair combined, especially that of 

 goats and camels. The real oriental camlet 

 is made from that of the Angola goat. No 

 camlets are made in Europe of goat's hair 

 alone. France, Holland, Flanders, and Eng- 

 land are the chief places where this manufac- 

 ture is carried on. The best are made in 

 England, and those of Brussels stand next in 

 repute. It has been occasionally written camc- 

 lut and cnmblet. 



GAMMAS. A new species of plant found 

 in the valley of the Columbia river. It has a 

 truncated root in the form of an onion, and 

 grows in moist rich land. It is prepared for 

 eating by first roasting, then pounding, after 

 which it is made into loaves like bread. It 

 has a liquorice taste, and is a food of great 

 importance among the Indians. 



CAMMOGK (Sax). The name of a weed 

 inlV.sting arable, especially chalky soils, gene- 

 rally known by the name of rest-harrow. See 

 i [ARROW. 



CAMOMILE, CHAMOMILE, COMMON or 

 SWEET (dntln-mi* .Mis. From uriw, on ac- 

 count of its abundance of flowers, or luxuri- 

 ance of growth. Fr. i-'nmnnille: Lat. chaino- 

 milln). A hardy perennial, growing on open 

 gravelly pastures or commons, in En-_rlnnd, 

 flowering from June to September, and well 

 known for its use in medicine. Cattle do IK t 

 appear to touch any part of this plant. Mo>t 

 of what is brought to the London market is 

 cultivated about Mitcham, in Surrey, 

 part of the plant is intensely bitter, and -raie- 

 fully aromatic, especially the llowrrs, whose 

 stomachic and tonic powers are justly cele- 

 brated. (En. Flora, vol. iii. p. 546.) In gar- 

 dens there are two varieties, the common 

 single and the doable-flowering. They require 

 a poor dry soil, otherwise they grow very 

 luxuriant, and become not only less capable 

 of withstanding severe winters, but also less 

 powerful in their medicinal qualities. They 

 will grow in any situation almost, but the more 

 open the better. They are generally propa- 

 gated by parting the roots, and by offsets, 

 which may be planted from the close of Feb- 

 ruary until the end of May; the earlier, how- 

 ever, it is performed the better: this is the 

 most favourable season, but it may be prac- 

 tised in the autumn. They are also raised 

 from seed, the proper time of sowing which is 

 in any of the early spring months ; but as the 

 former mode is so easily practised and with 

 much less trouble, it is generally pursued; 

 though it is advisable after a lapse of several 

 years to raise fresh plants, the old ones often 

 declining in production after such lapse of 

 time. Being shrubby, with extending lateral 

 branches, they should not be planted nearer to 

 each other than eighteen inches, as that also 

 gives an opportunity to employ the hoe. Wa- 

 ter must be given moderately at the time of 

 planting, if dry weather, otherwise it is not at 

 all required. If raised from seed, they require 

 no further cultivation than to be kept free of 



weeds in the seed-bed; and when three or four 

 inches high, to be thinned to about six inches 

 apart ; after which, they may remain thus 

 until the following spring, then be thinned and 

 remain, or be removed to the above-mentioned 

 distance apart. A very small bed will supply 

 the largest family. In July the flowers are 

 generally in perfection for gathering; the pe- 

 riod for performing it, however, must be go- 

 verned by the aspect of the flowers themselves, 

 as the best time is when they are just opened. 

 Particular care must be taken to dry them 

 thoroughly before they are stored; otherwise 

 they will not keep. If seed is required, the 

 only attention necessary is to leave some of 

 the first opening flowers ungathered; the seed 

 will ripen early in September, when the plant 

 may be cut, and the seed dried, and rubbed 

 out. (G. W. Johnson's Kitchen Garden.') 



Camomile flowers, fresh or dried, are tonic. 

 They contain volatile oil, bitter extractive, tunnic 

 arid, and }njnrina, a resinoid which was dis- 

 covered in them by Dr. A. T. Thomson, and 

 which, in conjunction with the volatile oil, ex- 

 plains their power of curing agues. The leaves 

 and (lowers dried are also anodyne applied to 

 the bowels outwardly in fomentations. <.'am.>- 

 raile tea if strong promote* vomiting. The 

 flowers of camomile distilled yield a fine blue 

 oil, like that from yarrow, which becomes yel- 

 low by time. It is used for cramps, &c. The 

 double flowers have not the same virtue which 

 _:le ones possess. The infusion is a 

 useful stomachic in weakened states of the 

 stomach, and as a general tonic. The strong 

 warm infusion is a useful emetic in low states 

 of the habit, and to promote the action of other 

 emetics. Combined with any astringent, ca- 

 momile is an antiperiodic and cures ague. 



Smith (En-J. Flur. vol. iii. p. 457) enumerates 

 four other species. The sea camomile (Jl. ma- 

 ritima') ; annual, met with on the sea-coast, but 

 rare; flowers smell like tansy, the leaves like 

 mii-jwort. Corn camomile (Jl. arvensis) ; an- 

 nual or biennial, in cultivated fields, as well as 

 waste ground, chiefly on a gravelly soil. The 

 herbage has little or no smell, but the flowers 

 are pleasantly scented. The stinking may- 

 weed, or camomile (Jl. tttula) ; an annual, 

 found in the same situation as the last. Every 

 part of the plant is fetid and acrid, blistering 

 the skin when much handled, which Dr. Hooker 

 justly attributes to the minute resinous dots 

 sprinkled over its surface. And the ox-eye 

 camomile (A. tinctoria), found sometimes in 

 stony mountainous places, growing on a bushy 

 stem eighteen inches high. The flowers afford 

 a fine yellow d}'e, for which, Linnaeus says, 

 they are much used in Sweden. There are 

 several handsome exotic species nearly akin 

 to this. 



CAMOMILE, WILD, or FEVER FEW 

 (Mntricaria camomilla, PI. 10, w w). Found in 

 cultivated and waste ground, on dunghills, and 

 by roadsides ; very common about London. 

 Root annual, rather large and woody; flower- 

 ing from May till August; stem a foot high; 

 flowers numerous, about the size of the com- 

 mon sweet camomile, and with some portion 

 of the same scent, of which the herbage, though 

 faintly, partakes. The greatest part of the oil 



251 



