Matricaria chamomilla

Abstract

The Matricaria chamomilla has been used as a domestic remedy since early times. The wild plant is indigenous in England and the double variety which has risen as a result of cultivation was well known in Malta during the sixteenth century. The name Roman was given to the Chamomille by the German physician Joachim (also known as Camerus). This name was given because of the abundance of the Chamomille in the neighbourhood of Rome. About the same period the German botanist Bock (also called Tragus) named the plant Chamomille from two Greek words meaning 'apple of the ground' since the plant grows close to the ground and has an odour which was thought to resemble that of the apples.