ESSEX BOTANY AND MYCOLOGY GROUPS
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ESSEX BOTANY AND MYCOLOGY GROUPS |
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Chamaemelum nobile:
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Chamaemelum nobile
(L.) All.
Essex status: Former native or long established alien, now only casual. In Gibson's day, Chamomile was a common and in places abundant plant on sandy grazed Essex heathland, and was plentiful enough to be collected by chemists from Galleywood Common. It was also used as a lawn plant from as early as Tudor times, particularly on dry soils, remaining green throughout the dry summer. When heavily grazed it adopts a close-knit prostrate non-flowering habit. It may therefore be an early introduction to this country. With the cessation of grazing, it has disappeared from our heathlands and its sensitivity to herbicides has eliminated it on arable land. Not only has it gone from Essex, nationally it has also vanished from 165 hectads, and is now only recorded from 96 post 1970 squares, virtually all of them south of the Severn-Wash line. It needs an open habitat with grazing or trampling to keep down the competition from other herbs and grasses, and seems to like gleyed soils that are waterlogged in winter (Wiggington 1999). Its disappearance from central and eastern England is so complete and dramatic, however, that bearing in mind that it only occurs as far north as Belgium on the continent, some other factor, possibly climatic, may be the principal reason for its demise. We may however be overlooking it in Essex. It's superficially similar to Matricaria recutita, but like the two species of Anthemis we have in Essex it has scales that subtend the achenes of both the ray and disc florets. The dissected leaves are greyish green rather than light green [ see illustrated key to Mayweeds under Ken's Keys main menu]. Post 1930 records:
Pre 1930 records: 'Gravelly and sandy commons and fields' (Gibson, 1862)
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