Cotula Maruta foetida. Foetid or Stinking Chamomile or Mayweed. This annual herb, growing freely in waste places, resembles the true Chamomile, having large, solitary flowers on erect stems, with conical, solid receptacles, but the white florets have no membraneous scales at their base. It is distinguished from the allied genera by its very foetid odour, which rubbing increases. Its action resembles that of the Chamomiles, but it is weaker, and its odour prevents its general adoption.
Bees dislike it, and it is said to drive away fleas.
The flowers must not be gathered when wet, or they will blacken during drying. The flowers have been found to contain volatile oil, oxalic, valeric and tannic acids, salts of magnesium, iron, potassium and calcium, colouring matter, a bitter extractive and fatty matter. The flowers are preferred for internal use, being slightly less disagreeable than the leaves. In hysteria it is used in Europe as an antispasmodic and emmenagogue. Applied to the skin fresh and bruised it is a safe vesicant.