FLORES ANTHEMIDIS. 385 



served its abundance near Rome, gave it the name of Roman Chamo- 

 mUe. 



Porta, about the year 1604,^ states that 100 pounds of Floves 

 Chamcemeli yielded 2 drachmae of a green volatile oil : we suppose he 

 distilled the flowers under notice. 



Production — The camomile is cultivated at Mitcham, near London, 

 the land applied to this purpose being in 1864< about 55 acres, and the 

 yield reckoned at about 4 cwt. per acre. The flowers are carefully 

 gatheied, and dried by artificial heat ; and fetch a high price in the 

 market.^ 



The plant is grown on a large scale at Kieritzsch, between Leipzig 

 and Altenburg, and near Zeiz and Borna, all in Saxony ; and likewise 

 to some extent in Belgium and France. 



Description — The chamomile flowers found in commerce are never 

 those of the wild plant, but are produced by a variety in which the 

 tubular florets have all, or for the greater part been converted into ligu- 

 late florets. In the flowers of some localities this convei*sion has been 

 less complete, and such flowers having a somewhat yellow centre, are 

 called by druggists Single Chamomiles ; while those in which all the 

 florets are ligulate and white, are known as Double Chamomiles. 



Chamomile flowers have the general structure found in the order 

 CompositcB. They are | to | of an inch across, and consist of a hemi- 

 spherical involucre about f of an inch in diameter, composed of a num- 

 ber of nearly equal bracts, scarious at the margin. The receptacle is 

 solid, conical, about \ of an inch in height, beset with thin, concave, 

 blunt, narrow, chaffy scales, from the bases of which grow the numerous 

 florets. In the wild plant, the outer of these, to the number of 12 or 

 more, are white, narrow, strap-shaped, and slightly toothed at the apex. 

 The central or disc florets are yellow and tubidar, with a somewhat 

 bell-shaped summit from which project the two reflexed stigmas. In 

 the cultivated plant, the ligulate florets predominate, or replace entirely 

 the tubular. The florets which are wholly destitute of pappus are 

 reflexed, so that the capitulum when dried has the aspect of a little 

 white ball. Minute oil-glands are sparingly scattered over the tubular 

 portion of the florets of either kind. The flowers of chamomile, as well 

 as the green parts of the plant, have a strong aroma, and a veiy bitter 

 taste. 



In trade, dried chamomile flowers are esteemed in proportion as they 

 are of large size, very double, and of a good white — the last named 

 quality being due in great measure to fine dry weather during the 

 flowering period. Flowers that are buff" or brownish, or only partially 

 double, command a lower price. 



Chemical Composition — Chamomile flowers yield from 0"6 to O'S 

 per cent, of essential oil,^ which is at first of a pale blue, but becomes 

 yellowish-brown in the course of a few months. 



At Mitcham, oil of chamomile is usually distilled from the entire 

 plant, after the best flowers have been gathered. The oil has a shade 



^ De distillatione, Romse, 1608. 83. ^ Information obligingly given by Messrs. 



- About £9 per cwt. , Foreign Chamo- Schimmel & Co. , Leipzig. The oil distilled 



miles being worth from £3 to £4, by them was examined in Prof. Fittig's 



laboratory, Strassbnrg. 



2b 



