In the realm of "simple"
herbs, those plants, whose parts are used in whole
form for the treatment of common ailments by the
common people, few herbs have garnered such a
reputation for success as the lowly chamomile.
Gerarde, paraphrased, said (1624) ". . . it is a
special help against wearisomeness; it eases and
mitigates pain, it mollifies and smooths, and all
these operations are in our vulgar 'Cammomill', as
common experience teacheth. . ." He recommended it
as a diuretic, carminative for colic and to
dissolve kidney and gall stones. He said the oil is
good for all manner of aches and pain, bruising,
and swelling. Mixed with wine, he claimed, the
decoction of the flowers was good against coldness
in the stomach, brings down the monthly courses,
and is useful for sour belching. The Egyptians,
Gerarde tells us thought so highly of it that they
consecrated it to their deities.1
Nicholas Culpepper, at
once the most famous and infamous of all English
herbalists, claimed that "The bathing with a
decoction of Camomile takes away weariness, eases
pains, to what part of the body soever they be
applied." The chamomile quote
immortalized in the American mind comes from
Beatrice Potter. In The Tale of Peter
Rabbit, Mrs. Rabbit gave her undisciplined son,
Peter. "One table-spoonful to be taken at bedtime."
Like a cup of warm milk, chamomile has gained a
reputation as a soothing, quieting night-time
beverage, gently calming the digestive system,
helping a child to drift off into serene
sleep. Over the centuries,
chamomile has gained a reputation as an herb of
many uses. It is said to have been one of the herbs
of choice of Asclepiades, a physician who lived in
Bithynia around 90 B.C. Pliny the Elder, one of the
most famous of Roman naturalists who wrote
extensively on herb use, is said to have given over
his medical care to Asclepiades, because he was so
skillful in prescribing herbs.1
Slovakian chamomile
specialist, Dr. Ivan Salamon, writes, "Chamomile is
the most favoured and most used medicinal plant in
Slovakia. Our folk saying indicates that an
individual should always bow when facing a
chamomile plant. This respect resulted from hundred
years' experience with curing in folk medicine of
the country."2
"As a popular remedy, it
may be thought of as the European counterpart of
ginseng," writes Varro Tyler, in The New Honest
Herbal (1987, p 66). Dr. Tyler tells us that
the Germans call it alles zutraut - "capable
of anything." He also notes that the Germans refer
to Matricaria recutita as the genuine
chamomile.3 Indeed, the word chamomile
(also written "camomile", especially in English
literature) means different things to people in
different parts of the world. In the herb trade
there are two types of chamomile. German chamomile
(sometimes called Hungarian chamomile) is the
flower of an annual plant Matricaria
recutita (also known in the older herb
literature and scientific publications as Matricaria chamomilla or Chamomilla
recutita). All of these names refer to the same
plant. This is the plant of which Dr. Tyler wrote.
The other well-known chamomile, familiar to
the herb gardener is English or Roman Chamomile
(Chamaemelum nobile). It is sometimes listed
by the obsolete scientific name Anthemis
nobilis. This is the "cammomill" of Gerade and
the "camomile" of Culpepper. The uses of both
German and English chamomile parallel each other.
If you are in England, the chamomile you would use
is likely Chamaemelum nobile. In the rest of
the world, German chamomile Matricaria
recutita dominates commerce. Such a complex
situation for such a simple plant. The word
chamomile is derived from Greek roots
-chamos (ground) and melos (apple),
referring to the fact that the plant grows low to
the ground, and the fresh blooms have a pleasing
apple-scent.4
German chamomile is an
annual native of Europe and western Asia, growing
from one to two feet high. The many terminal flower
heads are in comb-like formation, and are about
one-half to five-eighths of an inch in diameter.
The disk flowers are yellow surrounded by ten to
twenty white ray flowers. The receptacle is smooth,
conical, elongated, and hollow inside. Good quality
German chamomile is about three times cheaper than
the English variety. Major suppliers to the world
market for German chamomile include Argentina,
Egypt, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany,
Hungary and Poland. English or Roman
chamomile, a perennial native to Western Europe,
northwards to Northern Ireland, is a low-growing
herb with a creeping rhizome reaching a foot in
height. It is often grown in herb gardens as a low,
mat-like ground cover. The flower heads are about
an inch across and sparse compared with German
chamomile - a solitary head sits atop each flower
stalk. The disk flowers are yellow; the ray flowers
are white though sometimes absent. The receptacle
is conical and solid. One showy double-flowered
variety has large white blossoms. Nearly all the
yellow disk flowers become white ray flowers. A
petalless flower form is also available.
'Treanague', a cultivar named after the estate from
which it originated, is flowerless. There are also
double-flowered cultivars (well-known by the
sixteenth century). Commercial supplies come from
England, France, Belgium and Eastern
Europe.5 It's great for walkways, as it
stands being walked on, as Shakespeare notes (in
King Henry IV, Part 1, Act II, Scene 4), "Though
the chamomile, the more it is trodden on, the
faster it grows, yet youth the more it is waster,
the sooner it wears."
In modern terms, the uses
of chamomile differ little from ancient authors.
Its use is not a throw-back to Medieval times.
Chamomile flowers are still an official drug
(recognized by government authority) in the
pharmacopoeia of 26 countries. Its medicinal value
is due to the constituents of its essential oil.
Antiinflammatory, antiseptic, carminative,
antispasmodic and sedative activity are attributed
to Chamomile flowers in addition to promoting wound
healing. Chamomile is widely used
as a medicinal herb in Europe. The European
Scientific Cooperative for Phytotherapy (ESCOP), a
coalition of scientific organizations was formed to
develop "harmonized" herb regulations in Europe.
ESCOP is producing comprehensive scientific reviews
and suggested regulatory texts for herb use. One of
the first herbs for which they produced such a
document was chamomile.6 How do the Europeans use
chamomile? It is used in a wide variety of forms,
and dozens of products. Compresses, rinses or
gargles are used externally for the treatment of
inflammations and irritations of the skin and
mucosa, including the mouth and gums, respiratory
tract, and for hemorrhoids. A chamomile bath is
also used. The ESCOP monograph calls for about a
quarter ounce of the dried flowers in a quart of
water. Extrapolate that to a bathtub containing 30
gallons of water, and you're talking about a pound
and a half of dried flowers. Alternately, alcohol
extracts of the flowers are available in Europe.
Pour the recommended amount in the tub and you have
a much more convenient way to take a chamomile
bath. Chamomile bath products are also available in
the U.S.6 Internally, a tea made
from just two to three grams of the herb is used,
or appropriate amounts of tinctures (alcohol
extracts). Various proprietary preparations are
popular in Europe (some of which are available in
the U.S.). Chamomile tea or tincture is used to
relieve spasms and inflammatory conditions of the
gastrointestinal tract, as well as peptic ulcers. A
mild tea is also used as a gentle sleep aid,
particularly for children. All of the medicinal
indications of the ESCOP monograph are not only
backed by intensive research of recent years, but
many centuries of common use.
The essential oil of
chamomile flowers contains the compounds
responsible for the many uses attributed to the
flowers. The oil of German chamomile contains
compounds called chamazulene, farnesene,
alpha-bisabolol and other components. In fact, well
over 120 components have been identified from oil
of chamomile. High quality oil should be of a deep
blue color. The essential oil has antibacterial and
fungicidal properties. The component chamazulene is
anodyne, antispasmodic, anti-inflammatory, and
anti-allergenic. Chamazulene was once thought to be
the primary active component. But now scientists
believe that pharmacological activity, such as
antiinflammatory, antispasmodic, antimicrobial, and
mild sedative effects, are primarily the result of
a component chemists deem alpha-bisabolol.7,8 Extracts and a number of components of Chamomile,
including azulenes (chamazulene) and
alpha-bisabolol have been shown to have
anti-inflammatory activity. Chamazulene, comprising
5 percent of the essential oil, is an artifact
component formed during heating of teas and
extracts. This activity has been demonstrated, not
only by long empirical use, but by a number of
different laboratory models as well. Studies also
show that alpha-bisabolol has a protective effect
against peptic ulcers, as well as antibacterial and
antifungal activity. Alpha-bisabolol has also been
shown to reduce fever and shorten the healing time
of skin burns in laboratory animals. These two
compounds are considered primary active components
in German Chamomile. Many commercial German
Chamomile preparations are standardized to
chamazulene and alpha-bisabolol
content.6-8
Ironically, chamomile has
been found to induce allergies, as well as have an
anti-allergenic effect. Both histamine release and
inhibition of histamine discharge have been
advanced as mechanisms for the potential
antiallergenic action of the azulenes in chamomile
oil. It has been theorized that since the azulenes
themselves seem to prevent allergenic seizure,
inhibition of histamine is probably involved in
their true mechanism of action.7 Persons
allergic to other members of the sunflower or aster
family (Asteraceae or Compositae), are known to
sometimes experience cross-reactivity to use of
chamomile products. Those allergic to other aster
family members, such as ragweed, should be aware of
this potential side effect of using chamomile. At
least one case of anaphylactic shock has been
attributed to chamomile tea use.9 The
ESCOP monograph on Chamomile warns of the potential
"Extremely rare contact allergy." What's rare? Dr.
Tyler answered that question in The Honest
Herbal. Between the years 1887 and 1982, 50
allergies resulting from "chamomiles" use were
reported in the literature. Of these, only 5 were
attributed to German chamomile. Nevertheless, if
you are an allergy suffer, you don't want to be one
of those rare statistics.
Chamomiles have been used
for centuries in teas as a mild, relaxing sleep
aid, treatment for fevers, colds, stomach ailments,
and as an anti-inflammatory, to name only a few
therapeutic uses. Extensive scientific research
over the past 20 years has confirmed many of the
traditional uses for the plant and established
pharmacological mechanisms for the plant's
therapeutic activity, including antipeptic,
antispasmodic, antipyretic, antibacterial,
antifungal, and antiallergenic activity. In
addition to medicinal use, chamomiles enjoy wide
usage, especially in Europe and the U.S., as a
refreshing beverage tea and as an ingredient in
numerous cosmetic and external preparations. Rob
McCaleb, President of the Herb Research Foundation
in Boulder, Colorado estimates that over one
million cups of Chamomile tea are ingested
worldwide each day, making it probably the most
widely consumed herb tea.
References
- Savage, F. G. The Flora and Folk Lore of Shakespeare,
Stratford-on-Avon, Shakespeare Press,
1923.
- Salamon, I. The
Herb, Spice and Medicinal Plant Digest 1992,
10(1): 1-4.
- Tyler, V. E. Herbs of Choice - The Therapeutic Use of
Phytomedicinals, Binghamton, New York:
Pharmaceutical Products Press, 1994.
- Foster, S.
Chamomile, Botanical Series, No. 307.
Austin, Texas, American Botanical Council,
1991.
- Foster, S. Herbal Renaissance, Layton, Utah, Gibbs
Smith Publisher, 1993.
- ESCOP. Proposal
for a European Monograph on the Medicinal Use of
Matricariae Flos (Chamomile Flowers).
Brussels, ESCOP, 1990.
- Mann, C. and E.J.
Staba. In Herbs, Spices, and Medicinal
Plants: Recent Advances in Botany, Horticulture,
and Pharmacology, edited by L.E. Craker and
J.E. Simon, 1:235-280, Phoenix, Arizona, Oryx
Press, 1986.
- Der Marderosian, A.
and L. Liberti. Natural Product Medicine: A
Scientific Guide to Foods, Drugs, Cosmetics.
Philadelphia, George F. Stickley Co,
1988.
- Benner, M. and H.
Lee. J. Allergy Clin. Immunol. 1973, 52:
307-308.
|