Chamomile is easily cultivated, further south, from seed or root division, prefers full sun and a light well drained soil. The branched stem is somewhat erect, round, hollow, and grows to about 20 inches tall. The leaves are bipinnate, finely divided, light green and feathery. The flowers are daisy-like about 1 inch across and bloom from May to October. Gather the above ground parts as soon as flowers bloom, dry for later herb use.
Chamomile is edible and medicinal.
The flowers are edible and quite tasty in salads or made into a refreshing cold or warm beverage. Chamomile flowers are used in alternative medicine as an anodyne, anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic, nervine, stomachic, tonic, vasodilatory. The flowers contain various volatile oils including proazulenes. Upon steam distillation these proazulenes produce chamazulene, this is remarkably anti-allergenic and is useful in the treatment of asthma and hay fever. The chief constituent of Chamaemelum have been identified as esters of angelic and tiglic, together with amyl and isobutyl alcohol's.