Cum s cultivm, s utilizm i s

identificm mueelul
nvai cum putei cultiva, folosi i identifica mueelul! Articolul cuprinde sfaturi despre
identificarea diferitelor varieti de mueel i folosirea acestuia pentru ceai.
de Steven Foster
Decembrie 1991/ianuarie 1992

Growing the chamomile herb is easy with these helpful tips.

Photo By Fotolia/Marta Teron
Grow the chamomile herb for your health using these helpful tips.
Mrs. Rabbit put Peter to bed, made some chamomile tea, and gave a dose of it to her unruly
son. One table-spoonful to be taken at bed time, Beatrix Potter intoned in The Tale of Peter
Rabbit. Just what was this elixir that calmed our favorite woodland renegade?
If you pick up a half-dozen herb books to look up the chamomile herb, you are likely to find a
bewilderment of names. Theres Roman (or English) chamomile, a perennial, and German (or
Hungarian) chamomile, an annual. The German species might be listed as Matricaria
chamomilla, Chamomilla recutita, or Matricaria recutita. These are all the same plant!
Roman chamomile is referred to in some sources as Anthemis nobilis, in others as
Chamaemelum nobile. The currently accepted nomenclature is Matricaria recutita for the
German, and Chamaemelum nobile for the Roman. But what a confusion for such a lowly
European weed!
The word chamomile (sometimes spelled camomile, and generally pronounced with a long i)
is derived from Greekchamos (ground) and melos (apple), referring to the fact that the plant
grows low to the ground, and the fresh blooms have a pleasing apple scent. Even at this level

of naming, all is not clear. Roman chamomile is indeed low growing, and is used for clipped
lawns in England. But German chamomile grows to a relatively stately 2 1/2 feet.

Diferenierea varietilor de mueel

Mueelul nemesc este o plant cu mireasm plcut, cu ramificaii, ale crei frunze micue
sunt separate de dou ori n segmente subiri i liniare. Florile, pn la 2.54 centimetri la
orizontal, au un receptacul gol n form de con, cu flori mici, galbene, n form de disc, care
acoper conul. Conul este nconjurat de flori semidrepte curbate n jos, ntre 10 i 20,
oferindu-i nfiarea unei margarete miniaturale. Mueelul nemesc este originar din Europa
i Asia de Vest, loc buruienos; nu se cultiv n Statele Unite.
Mueelul roman, pe de alt parte, are un obicei de rspndire i crete n nlime pn la
aproximativ 0.3048 m. Frunzele sunt dublu sau triplu separate n segmente liniare, care sunt
mai plate i mai groase dect cele ale mueelului nemesc. De asemenea, florile acestuia
ajung pn la 2.54 centimetri la orizontal, dar discul este o form conic mai mare, iar
receptaculul este solid. i mueelul roman are flori semidrepte albe, chiar dac un anumit
numr de varieti cultivate nu au niciuna i ofer nfiarea unor nasturi mici i galbeni. De
asemenea, exist soiuri de plante cu dou flori (bine cunoscute pn n secolul al
aisprezecelea), i unul fr flori, denumit 'Treneague', numit dup terenul englezesc pe care
a fost dezvoltat. Mueelul roman este originar din Europa de Vest, i n partea de nord spre
Irlanda de Nord.
Dac avei un mnunchi de flori de mueel uscate, putei deosebi ntre mueelul roman i cel
nemesc prin despicarea receptaculului florii pn la mijloc. Dac receptaculul este solid, este
roman, dac este gol, este nemesc. Ar trebui s testai cinci sau zece flori pentru a fi siguri,
deoarece, uneori, floarea unui mueel nemesc va fi solid n interior. Mueelul roman are
tulpinele uor proase, n timp ce cele ale mueelului nemesc sunt netede/ n planta vie,
florile mueelului roman stau separate n vrful tulpinii, n timp ce florile mueelului
nemesc se gsesc pe tulpini separate ntr-o form de pieptene (cunoscut drept corimb).
How to Grow Chamomile

German chamomile grows from seeds sown directly in their garden location. The seeds are
very tinyalmost dust likeso the seed bed should be well-prepared. They can be scattered
on the soils surface, then gently tamped down with the flat side of a hoe. Plant early in the
spring, about the same time you would plant peas. The young seedlings will withstand a mild
frost. The seeds generally germinate in a week to ten days. Germination begins at
temperatures of about 45 degrees Fahrenheit. The plants grow slowly at first, and need to be
kept well weeded. After four to five weeks, a growth spurt occurs, resulting in a rosette of
leaves. Young seedlings, about 1 or 2 inches tall, are easily transplanted, but older ones do not
survive this process.
If you plant around the first of June in the North, expect flowering in mid to late July or early
August. Here in the southern Ozarks, self-sown plants complete their life cycle by mid-June.
Blooms develop continuously, and once flowering commences, harvesting is possible every
ten days to two weeks. When I was at the Sabbathday Lake, Maine, Shaker community back
in the late seventies, we planted double rows of German chamomile 10 inches apart and

harvested the flowers with a blueberry rake. Commercial growers in northern Europe get two
to three cuttings of flowers during a season.
Roman chamomile can be started from seeds or cuttings, or by root division. Seedlings
should have a 6- to 12-inch spacing. It likes full sun and a slightly acid-to-neutral garden soil
with good drainage. A rich soil will produce lush leaf growth but few flowers. It is an
excellent, but slow-growing, ground cover for cooler areas. Roman chamomile does not
tolerate hot, dry weather; Ive had a very difficult time trying to grow it in the Ozarks. Roman
chamomile is a perennial, growing from the same root year after year. German chamomile is
an annual, but dont expect it to grow in the garden for just one year! It self-sows freely and
you can bet if you plant it one time, it will spring up in the garden from then on. The second
year I grew German chamomile, I found plants springing up along the driveway several
hundred yards away! In Boulder, Colorado, you can find the plant naturalized along roadsides
and in the cracks of sidewalks, where seeds escaped from Celestial Seasonings tea company.
Chamomile for Your Health

In Europe, chamomile is highly esteemed as a medicinal herb. Matricaria recutita is included

in the pharmacopoeias of 26 countries. Writing on the plant in the Australian journal Focus on
Herbs, Slovakian chamomile expert Ivan Salamon quoted a common folk saying of his
country: An individual should always bow before the curative powers of the chamomile
plant. And As a popular remedy, it may be thought of as the European counterpart of
ginseng, Dr. Varro Tyler wrote in The New Honest Herbal. Dr. Tyler tells us that the
Germans describe it as alles zutrautcapable of anything.
Are these statements just over-enthusiasm, or is there meaning behind the folklore? Indeed,
German chamomile, and to a lesser extent, Roman chamomile, is among the best-researched
medicinal herbs now used in Europe. There it is used in a wide variety of ways and in dozens
of products: compresses, rinses, or gargles are used externally for the treatment of
inflammations and irritations of the skin, mouth, gums, and respiratory tract, and for
hemorrhoids. A chamomile batha pound of flowers to 20 gallons of wateris also used.
(Alternatively, alcohol extracts of the flowers are available in Europea much more
convenient way to take a chamomile bath!)
Internally, a tea made from 2 to 3 grams of the herb to a cup of water is used to relieve spasms
and inflammations of the intestinal tract, as well as for peptic ulcers. (Remember that there are
about 28 grams in an ounce, so this is a very mild tea.) A mild tea is also used as a sleeping
aid, particularly for children. These medicinal uses, cited in a monograph developed by the
European Scientific Cooperative for Phytomedicine, are backed by intensive research of
recent years as well as many centuries of common use.
Over the last decade, the popular press and even medical literature in the United States have
reported that drinking chamomile tea may cause severe allergic reactions. The basis for this,
according to Dr. Tyler, is 50 allergic reactions resulting from chamomiles reported between
1887 and 1982. Of these, only five were attributed to German chamomile. I think this says
more about its safety than it does any potential harm; nonetheless, persons who experience
allergic reactions to ragweed or other members of the aster family are warned that they should
use chamomile with caution.

German chamomile has highly variable chemistry. To date, more than 120 chemical
components have been identified from its clear blue essential oil. For many years,
chamazulene was thought to be the primary active component, but scientists now believe that
any antiinflammatory, antispasmodic, antimicrobial, and mildly sedative effect is due to one
called bisabolol. Since the late 1970s and 1980s, European plant breeders, producers, chemists, and pharmacologists have been working on programs to improve the plant. Today, they
recognize four basic chemical types of German chamomile, which has led to the production of
higher-quality chamomile with more stable, predictable constituents and higher levels of
active components. Crop improvement programs are continuing in both eastern and western
Europe.
Next time you sip a cup of sweet, delicate, apple-flavored chamomile tea at bedtime, think of
its interesting history and all the upset stomachs and other minor irritations it has soothed over
the centuries. And dont feel even a little bit sorry for Peter Rabbit, though Flopsy, Mopsy,
and Cottontail got blackberries and milk for supper instead.

Whats In a Name?
Every few years, botanists from all over the world convene at an International Botanical
Congress to establish or revise the rules that govern the naming of plants. Botanists
voluntarily follow the published results, known as International Code of Botanical
Nomenclature, in an attempt to make plant names universal and unambiguous. According to
the Code, the first valid publication of a name for a particular plant has priority over other
names. However, when current rules of the Code are applied at a given time by taxonomists, a
plant name may change, and chamomile is a case in point.
The starting point of modern botanical nomenclature is Linnaeuss Species Plantarum (1753).
In it, Linnaeus named two entities, Matricaria chamomilla and M. recutita. Both names have
been applied to the plant known today as German chamomile, but for more than 200 years,
the plant was officially referred to as M. chamomilla. Then, in 1972, a European researcher
decided that the plant deserved a genus of its own, and he renamed it Chamomilla recutita.
But seven years later, an English botanist reinterpreted the Code and concluded that the
correct name for the plant should in fact be M. recutita. Today, any of these three names may
be used in reference to German chamomile in catalogs and other botanical literature.
In 1589, Joachim Camerarius bestowed the common name Roman chamomile on a plant he
had seen growing in the vicinity of Rome. In many books published before 1976, the plant is
referred to as Anthemis nobilis. However, as early as 1785, Italian botanist Carlo Allioni
separated this and several other plants out of the genus Anthemis and placed them in
Chamaemelum, bestowing the name C. nobile on Roman chamomile. This name was buried
in obscurity for nearly 200 years, but when it resurfaced in the mid-1970s, it was adopted
because, according to the Code, it had priority.

Steven Foster is a botanical researcher, photographer, and writer in Eureka Springs,

Arkansas. His book credits are legion, including: Herbal Emissaries: Bringing Chinese Herbs
to the West with coauthor Yue Chongxi (1992) and Echinacea: Natures Immune Enhancer
(1991), both published by Healing Arts Press in Rochester, Vermont.