White buttons
Anacyclus clavatus
Family · Asteraceae · Harmless
The white daisy of southern fields and verges, with a broad yellow disc and short white rays that bend downward in the afternoon. It smells of chamomile but is not chamomile.
Fields and pasture · Roadsides and waste ground · Town and roadside · Scrubland
Also known asclubbed anacyclus
How to tell it
A branched plant with leaves twice or three times divided into fine segments. Heads two to three centimetres, with a broad yellow disc and short broad white rays that turn downward in the heat. The outer fruits are flattened and winged, club shaped, which is what gives the scientific name.
What it is confused with
Roman chamomile
Chamaemelum nobile
Cut the head in half with a fingernail: in chamomile the centre is hollow like an empty cone, in white buttons it is solid. It is the test that settles every false chamomile at once.
Open sheet →What it is for
No use. The warning applies: it is the plant most often mistaken for chamomile in open country, and the similar smell reinforces the error. True chamomile has a hollow receptacle when cut in half, and this does not.