Anthemis chia
Greek chamomile Ηαμομήλι
Asteraceae - daisy family Dicot.
Greek chamomile is widespread on Skopelos in springtime, creating undulating white waves in fields which later in the year will appear dry and barren. The daisy flower heads have bright yellow florets arranged on flattened disc surrounded by long white ray florets. The flowers stalks are green tinged with red and run along the ground before turning up to become vertical. The leaves are bright green and finely divided. The flowers can be collected for mountain tea.
❉1.5-2.5, ↨ 20-40 cm JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC
Chaos and Chamomile
Chamomile, also spelt camomile can cause great confusion. It is the name for a group of small daisy like plants belonging to a number of genera - Anthemis, Chamomilla, Chaemelum and Matricaria.
Oleg Polunin, a recognised authority, describes Anthemis (chamomile) as a "very difficult genus" with 43 species in Greece and the Balkans.
The most commonly used for tea are German and Roman chamomile.
German chamomile is also called Hungarian chamomile and wild or scented mayweed. The accepted botanical name is Matricaria Chamomilla but The Plant List records 27 recognised synonyms including the commonly used Chamomilla recutita and 3 names considered invalid or illegitimate.
Roman or English chamomile is also called garden chamomile, ground apple, low camomile and whig plant. Its accepted name is Chamaemelum nobile and there are 15 synonyms.
Greek is much simpler, all these plants are simply referred to as Ηαμομήλι, hamomili, which means earth apple.
The lesson, if you want to forage wild plants to make tea - ask advice form a knowledgeable local and not an amateur botanist.
