Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla / Matricaria recutita)

Description
Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla or Matricaria recutita, family Asteraceae) is an annual herb characterised by small daisy-like flower heads with white ray florets and a yellow central disc. It is one of the most widely used medicinal plants and is mainly employed for herbal infusions, extracts and cosmetic formulations.
Aromatically, chamomile is recognisable by its sweet, floral, slightly honey-like and herbaceous fragrance, while the taste is delicate, mildly bitter and characteristic.

• Matricaria recutita or German chamomile, is the most widespread and known medicinal plant belonging to the family of Asteraceae, the classic chamomile.
• Anthemis nobilis or Roman Chamomile is the second medicinal plant that is less common, but has similar ingredients to Matricaria recutita. 

Chamomilla recutita, commonly known as German chamomile, is a flowering plant renowned for its calming and anti-inflammatory properties. It is widely used in herbal medicine and skincare products for its soothing effects on the skin and digestive system. The plant is characterized by its daisy-like flowers and distinct aroma.

Botanical Classification:

• Kingdom: Plantae
• Order: Asterales
• Family: Asteraceae
• Genus: Chamomilla
• Species: Chamomilla recutita

Plant Characteristics:

Growth Form:Chamomilla recutita is an annual herb that typically grows to a height of 15-60 cm (6-24 inches). It has a branching, bushy habit with delicate, fern-like leaves.

Leaves: The leaves are pinnately divided, giving them a feathery appearance. They are green and often have a strong, aromatic scent when crushed.

Flowers: The plant produces small, daisy-like flower heads with white ray florets surrounding a yellow central disc. The flowers have a sweet, apple-like fragrance.

Chemical Composition and Structure:

Essential Oils: The essential oil of Chamomilla recutita contains components such as chamazulene, bisabolol, and alpha-bisabolol, which are responsible for its anti-inflammatory and soothing effects.

Flavonoids: It contains flavonoids such as apigenin and luteolin, which have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.

Coumarins: The plant also contains coumarins, which contribute to its calming and anti-spasmodic effects.

Polysaccharides: The mucilaginous polysaccharides in chamomile have soothing and emollient properties.

How to Cultivate It:

• Soil: Chamomilla recutita prefers well-drained, sandy loam or loamy soil with a pH of 6.0-7.0. It can adapt to various soil types but thrives in moderately fertile soil.
• Climate: The plant grows best in temperate climates and prefers cooler temperatures. It is tolerant of light frosts but may struggle in extreme heat.
• Watering: Regular watering is important, especially during dry periods. The soil should be kept moist but not waterlogged.
• Fertilization: A balanced fertilizer can be used to promote healthy growth. Over-fertilization should be avoided to prevent excessive foliage growth at the expense of flower production.
• Pruning: Deadheading spent flowers can encourage further blooming. Minimal pruning is required beyond this.

Uses and Benefits:

• Medicinal Uses: Chamomilla recutita is widely used in herbal medicine for its anti-inflammatory, anti-spasmodic, and soothing properties. It is commonly used to treat digestive issues such as indigestion, bloating, and gas, as well as to alleviate symptoms of anxiety and insomnia. It is also used in topical treatments for skin conditions like eczema and dermatitis.
• Cosmetic Uses: The plant is incorporated into skincare products for its calming and anti-inflammatory effects. Chamomile extracts are used in lotions, creams, and masks to soothe irritated skin, reduce redness, and promote healing.

INCI Functions:

Fragrance. It plays a very important role in the formulation of cosmetic products as it provides the possibility of enhancing, masking or adding fragrance to the final product, increasing its marketability. It is able to create a perceptible pleasant odour, masking a bad smell. The consumer always expects to find a pleasant or distinctive scent in a cosmetic product. 

Skin conditioning agent. It is the mainstay of topical skin treatment as it has the function of restoring, increasing or improving skin tolerance to external factors, including melanocyte tolerance. The most important function of the conditioning agent is to prevent skin dehydration, but the subject is rather complex and involves emollients and humectants that can be added in the formulation.

• Culinary Uses: Chamomile flowers are used in herbal teas for their calming effects and pleasant flavor. They are also used as a natural flavoring in some culinary dishes.

Applications:

• Pharmaceutical Industry: Chamomilla recutita extracts are used in the formulation of oral and topical treatments for various conditions, including digestive issues, skin irritations, and sleep disorders.
• Cosmetic Industry: The plant is a popular ingredient in skincare products due to its soothing and anti-inflammatory properties. It is used in products such as facial cleansers, moisturizers, and masks.
• Food Industry: Chamomile tea is a popular herbal beverage known for its relaxing and soothing effects. It is also used as a natural flavoring in some food products.

Environmental and Safety Considerations:

• Environmental Impact: Chamomilla recutita is generally non-invasive and does not pose significant environmental risks. It is commonly grown in garden settings and can be a beneficial addition to ornamental and medicinal plant collections.
• Safety: Chamomilla recutita is considered safe for most people when used appropriately. However, individuals with allergies to plants in the Asteraceae family (e.g., ragweed, daisies) should use caution.

Studies

Matricaria recutita and Anthemis nobilis provide an interesting  essential oil  (the main components of which are bisabololol alpha and its oxides A, B and C, matricin, which is converted into chamazulene for distillation, en-yn-dicycloethers and flavonic derivatives: apigenin, luteoline and apigenin-7-glucoside (3).

In many clinical trials, the anti-inflammatory activity of the ointment containing recutita Matricaria flower extract (treatment of patients suffering from inflammatory dermatosis on the hands, forearms and lower legs) was comparable to that Hydrocortisone 0.25% and higher than 0.75% foreign fluocortix and 5% bufexamac (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory synthetic drugs) (1).

The essential oil of chamomile and alpha bisabolol contained there, has demonstrated antibacterial and antifungal activity  in vitro (mainly against Gram-positive bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus , Bacillus subtilis and fungi Candida albicans ) (2).

The flower is used for herbal teas, tablets, mouthwashes (3).

Despite being the most commonly used herb for sleep disorders, the efficacy and safety of chamomile (Matricaria recutita) for the treatment of primary chronic insomnia is still uncertain. This study found a modest benefit of chamomile over placebo on other sleep diary measures including sleep latency. The data from this study point to the possibility that chamomile extract may provide modest, mixed clinical benefits, at the doses evaluated, to patients with chronic primary insomnia. It is possible, however, that improvements in the chamomile group are due to nontreatment-related events such as natural disease course and regression to the mean (4).

Chamomile studies

References____________________________________________________________________

(1) Blumenthal M, Goldberg A, Brinckann J. Herbal medicine. Expanded Commission E Monographs. German. Newton: Chamomile flower, American Botanical Council; 2000. pp. 57–61.

(2) Schulz V, Hänsel R, Blumenthal M, Tyler VE. Rational phytotherapy. Berlin Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag; 2004. pp. 335–47.

This book is a practice-oriented introduction to phytotherapy. Methodically classified by organic systems and fields of application, it offers a quick insight into dosage, form of application and effects of the most important herbal remedies. Only those herbal remedies that are of pharmacological and clinical efficiency have been considered. The authors are highly experienced in the field of postgraduate medical education, and, with this work, present an indispensable reference book for the medical practice. All practitioners and pharmacists interested in treatment with herbal remedies should have this book at their disposal.

(3) ESCOP Monographs. Matricariae flos. 2nd ed. New York: Thieme; 2003. European Scientific Cooperative on Phytotherapy; pp. 312

(4) Zick SM, Wright BD, Sen A, Arnedt JT. Preliminary examination of the efficacy and safety of a standardized chamomile extract for chronic primary insomnia: a randomized placebo-controlled pilot study. BMC Complement Altern Med. 2011 Sep 22;11:78. doi: 10.1186/1472-6882-11-78. 

Abstract. Background: Despite being the most commonly used herbal for sleep disorders, chamomile's (Matricaria recutita) efficacy and safety for treating chronic primary insomnia is unknown. We examined the preliminary efficacy and safety of chamomile for improving subjective sleep and daytime symptoms in patients with chronic insomnia. Methods: We performed a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot trial in 34 patients aged 18-65 years with DSM-IV primary insomnia for ≥ 6-months. Patients were randomized to 270 mg of chamomile twice daily or placebo for 28-days. The primary outcomes were sleep diary measures. Secondary outcomes included daytime symptoms, safety assessments, and effect size of these measures. Results: There were no significant differences between groups in changes in sleep diary measures, including total sleep time (TST), sleep efficiency, sleep latency, wake after sleep onset (WASO), sleep quality, and number of awakenings. Chamomile did show modest advantage on daytime functioning, although these did not reach statistical significance. Effect sizes were generally small to moderate (Cohen's d ≤ 0.20 to < 0.60) with sleep latency, night time awakenings, and Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS), having moderate effect sizes in favor of chamomile. However, TST demonstrated a moderate effect size in favor of placebo. There were no differences in adverse events reported by the chamomile group compared to placebo. Conclusion: Chamomile could provide modest benefits of daytime functioning and mixed benefits on sleep diary measures relative to placebo in adults with chronic primary insomnia. However, further studies in select insomnia patients would be needed to investigate these conclusions. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01286324.

Srivastava JK, Shankar E, Gupta S. Chamomile: A herbal medicine of the past with bright future. Mol Med Rep. 2010 Nov 1;3(6):895-901. doi: 10.3892/mmr.2010.377.

Abstract. Chamomile is one of the most ancient medicinal herbs known to mankind. It is a member of Asteraceae/Compositae family and represented by two common varieties viz. German Chamomile (Chamomilla recutita) and Roman Chamomile (Chamaemelum nobile). The dried flowers of chamomile contain many terpenoids and flavonoids contributing to its medicinal properties. Chamomile preparations are commonly used for many human ailments such as hay fever, inflammation, muscle spasms, menstrual disorders, insomnia, ulcers, wounds, gastrointestinal disorders, rheumatic pain, and hemorrhoids. Essential oils of chamomile are used extensively in cosmetics and aromatherapy. Many different preparations of chamomile have been developed, the most popular of which is in the form of herbal tea consumed more than one million cups per day. In this review we describe the use of chamomile in traditional medicine with regard to evaluating its curative and preventive properties, highlight recent findings for its development as a therapeutic agent promoting human health.

Deepa Y, Vijay A, Nivethitha L, Nandhakumar G, Sathiya S, Mooventhan A. Effects of chamomile oil inhalation on sleep quality in young adults with insomnia: A randomized controlled trial. Int J Psychiatry Med. 2025 Sep;60(5):533-542. doi: 10.1177/00912174241301279. 

Abstract. ObjectiveInsomnia is characterized by difficulty falling asleep, staying sleep, or both. Aromatherapy is a commonly used complementary and alternative medicine practice by persons with insomnia. Previous studies have shown that use of chamomile oil during massage therapy improves the quality of sleep (QoS). However, to our knowledge, no randomized controlled trials have examined the effects of chamomile oil inhalation on the treatment of insomnia. The present study evaluated the effect of chamomile oil inhalation on QoS and insomnia severity in persons with insomnia.MethodsA total of 80 participants ages 18-35 with insomnia were randomly assigned to aromatherapy group (AG; n = 40) or a control group (CG; n = 40). Those in the AG group received chamomile oil inhalation, while those in the CG group engaged in their normal routine for 10 minutes a day, daily for 15 days. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) were administered before and after the intervention.ResultsWithin-group analysis showed a significant reduction both in PSQI and ISI scores among those in the AG (P < 0.001 for both scores), whereas the CG reported a significant reduction in PSQI score (P = 0.033) and no significant changes in ISI score (P = 0.068). The between-group analysis after the intervention demonstrated a significant reduction in PSQI and ISI scores in the AG group (P < 0.001 for both) compared to the CG group. No participant in either group reported adverse events during or after the study.ConclusionFifteen days of chamomile oil inhalation before bedtime reduced insomnia severity and enhanced the quality of sleep for young adults suffering from insomnia. Further studies are needed to replicate the results of this study using an active control group.