Chamomile, a sweet-smelling herb with daisy flowers and delicate lacy foliage, was probably better known in past centuries than it is today.
Dioscorides, a wandering soldier whose collection of herbal observations became in the first century A. D.
The earliest illustrated herbal extant pointed out that some called it “Chamemelum”, because of its likeness of it in smell to apples . . .” (as “Englished ” by John Goodyer in 1655).
The ancient Egyptians used chamomile as a healing herb.
Chamomile In The Past
Chamomile was well-known in the 16th and 17th centuries. In 1597 John Gerard wrote in his Second Booke of the Historie of Plants:
“The oyle of Cammomil doth asswage & mitigate all paine and ache, it cureth wearied and brused parts, it looseth and softeneth all that which is hard & stretched out or swollen: it doth mollifie … all that which is hard, and openeth all that is stopped.”
Many writers noted the resilience of camomile, which makes it ideal for lawns and garden paths.
John Lyly wrote in Euphues in 1588: “. . . though the Camomill, the more it is trodden and pressed down, the more it spreadeth, yet the violet the oftner it is handled and touched, the sooner it withereth and decayeth.”
Shakespeare must have read Euphues carefully, for Falstaff chides the Prince of Wales in King Henry IV, Part I:
“Harry, I do not only marvel where thou spendest thy time, but also how thou art accompanied: for though the chamomile, the more it is trodden on, the faster it grows, yet youth, the more it is wasted, the sooner it wears.”
In 1608 the anonymous author of The More the Merrier wrote: The chamomile shall teach thee patience which riseth best when trodden most upon.
Because the large estate gardens of this period were protected by high walls, a mound or “mount” from which a view of the garden and the surrounding countryside could be obtained was built, usually at the extreme end of the garden.
Banqueting House for Chamomile
Often a “banqueting house” or arbor was constructed on the top of the mountain, where, after dinner (then served in the middle of the day), the dessert or “banquet” was eaten.
In his essay “On Gardens,” Sir Francis Bacon advises that the banqueting house be located in the middle of the main garden on a mount 30′ feet high.
He also recommends: “At the end of both the side grounds, I would have a mount of some pretty height, leaving the wall of the enclosure breast-high, to look abroad into the fields.”
In the days before seeded lawns, the mount was as likely to be covered with chamomile or thyme as sodded with turf from the heaths.
Walks were turfed With chamomile and other sweet herbs that “trodden do perfume the air.”
In his Kalendarium Hortense (1650), John Evelyn tells us that in October, “it will now be good to Beat, Roll, and Mow Carpet-walks, and Chamomile; for now, the ground is supple, and it will even all inequalities.”
In the same year, Robert Heath wrote a flowery tribute typical of the time, “On Clarastella Walking in Her Garden.”
Among the descriptions of bowing violets, pale lilies, blushing roses, and shrinking pansies, all shy in the presence of the beautiful Clarastella, is chamomile:
There is a bed of Chamomile; when she presseth it doth smell More fragrant than the perfumed East, Or the Phoenix spicie nest.
Garden Herbs
Pleasant garden odors were a great comfort to the Elizabethans. In 1606, William Penn translated parts of Rembert Dodoens’ famous Dutch herbal, entitling it Rain’s Little Dodeon (sic).
He advised: “To comfort the brain smell to Chamomile, eate sage, . . . wash measurably, sleep reasonably, delight to hear melody and singing.”
In 1630 in the Fifth Nymphal of the Muses Elysium, Michael Drayton describes the garlands of flowers and garden herbs which Claia and Lelipa.
It was made in friendly competition with the hermit Clarinax, a healer who used wild herbs to make his wreath. In Lelipa’s chaplet of herbs:
Some chamomile doth not amiss, With savory and some tansy; Then here and there I’ll put a sprig Of rosemary into it: Thus not too little or too big, ’Tis done if I can do it.
Two Chamomile Plants
The two plants commonly called chamomile are Matricaria chamomilla and Anthemis nobilis.
Matricaria chamomilla, a hardy annual that self-sows freely and has escaped in the Eastern United States, is known as German or Hungarian camomile and has a stronger apple scent.
The perennial Anthemis nobilis flower heads, Roman or English chamomile, are more widely used for drying.
Chamomile tea will soothe an upset stomach and is still used for this purpose, particularly in Europe.
Matricaria chamomilla is usually grown in old-fashioned herb gardens for medicinal purposes, although it is also a fine plant for the border. It will grow to 2’ feet or less in any good garden soil.
Anthemis nobilis reaches a height of 1’ foot and bears white ray flowers profusely from June to September.
Seed should be sown outdoors late in April or early in May, but it can be started earlier indoors.
When transplanting to their places in the garden, thin the plants to stand at least 9 inches apart.
Anthemis nobilis may also be planted as a lawn or ground cover, for it may be mown or clipped to form a dense mat.
44659 by William D. Stoneback