🌱Doc's Pantry Garden Almanac

The Garden Almanac

The bedtime daisy that self-sows forever

🧺 Doc's Pantry·℞ Apothecary· 🌱 Garden·🎨 Artisan Hub
← Culinary & Kitchen Herbs 🌿 Culinary & Kitchen Herbs

German Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla)

The bedtime daisy that self-sows forever

🔍 How to identify it

Branching annual to 60 cm with feathery, thread-like foliage and many small daisy flowers — white rays around a HOLLOW, raised yellow cone (the hollow cone tells it from lookalikes). Sweet apple scent.

👀 Look-alikes

Scentless mayweed and stinking chamomile look similar — true chamomile smells of apple and has a hollow conical centre. Harmless mix-ups, but only the fragrant one is worth picking.

🤝 Companion planting

Plant near:
cabbageonioncucumbermost herbs
FamilyAsteraceae (daisy family)
Hardiness zone2-11 (annual, self-seeds)
SunFull sun to part shade
WaterModerate; tolerates dry
SoilAverage, well-drained; not fussy
Spacing15-20 cm; or scatter and thin
Sowing / startingSurface-sow (needs light) after last frost; self-sows for years once established
HarvestPick flowers when rays are flat or just reflexing, on a dry morning; dry for tea
Common pestsVery few; occasional aphids that draw in beneficial insects.

🧺 What it's good for

Calming bedtime tea; traditional digestive and skin herb. Draws hoverflies and bees.

Plant identification here is educational — never eat, forage, or medicate with a wild plant on the basis of a website alone. Many edible plants have toxic look-alikes. When in doubt, grow from known seed, or confirm with an expert before you harvest.