Mixed chamomile
Cladanthus mixtus
Family · Asteraceae · Harmless
The white daisy with a yellow disc that smells of chamomile when crushed, covering fallow land and verges from north to south. It is the commonest false chamomile in the country.
Fields and pasture · Roadsides and waste ground · Town and roadside · Dunes and sand
Also known asfalse chamomile
How to tell it
A branched plant twenty to sixty centimetres, with leaves twice divided into fine segments. Heads two to three centimetres, with white rays and a yellow disc. The bracts beneath have a broad brown membranous margin, clearly visible. A strong chamomile smell when rubbed.
What it is confused with
Roman chamomile
Chamaemelum nobile
Both smell of chamomile. Cut the head in half: hollow in true chamomile, solid in this. It is the only test that does not deceive, and it settles every false chamomile at once.
What it is for
No use to recommend, despite the smell. It is one of the plants most often gathered in the belief that it is chamomile, and the test that settles it is always the same: cut the head in half with a fingernail and see whether the centre is hollow. In true chamomile it is hollow, in this it is solid.
Where it occurs
Each square is an area with recorded observations of this plant. The lighter background is the set of areas where any of the entries has been observed, and serves as a reference. Note what this is not: it is not where the plant lives, it is where people record it, so trails and towns always look fuller than the mountains. Data from GBIF.
Sources
Community
No approved contributions for this entry yet.
Nothing appears here without a person reading it first. Contributions do not replace the entry or its warnings: until a botanist confirms, what is written above stands.