The Family Kitchen Gardener (1856)/Chamomile
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CHAMOMILE.
A’nthemis nóbilis.—Camomille, Fr.—Kamille, Ger.
Grows wild in many parts of Europe. It is a hardy perennial, and easily propagated by parting the roots early in Spring. Both the leaves and flowers of the Chamomile have a strong, though not ungrateful, smell, and a very bitter, nauseous taste. The flowers possess the stomachic and tonic qualities usually ascribed to simple bitters. A watery infusion of them is frequently used for the purpose of exciting vomiting, or for promoting the operation of emetics. They are very generally used in emollient decoctions, to assuage pain; and externally as fomentations.