Читать книгу Some Useful Wild Plants - Dan Jason - Страница 18

Camomile

Chamaemelum nobile

Asteraceae

Camomile (or chamomile) looks like yellow-headed daisies. One species has petals, another doesn’t. It grows low in hard-packed open ground around houses, in old dirt roadways, and along highways.

The flower heads and leaves are delicious as tea and as herb beer.

An infusion of camomile is consumed as a remedy for nightmares, insomnia and nervousness in general. It is a popular remedy for indigestion, heartburn and loss of appetite (especially in combination with ginger root, drunk cold). It is also good for colic and preventing children’s summer diarrhea.

Externally, camomile can be used as a poultice for swelling and inflammatory pain, especially in the throat or neck. It is good as a lotion for toothache and earache and as a wash for sore, weak eyes and open sores or wounds.

We enjoy camomile in a bath or as an herbal shampoo, either by itself or mixed with other herbs. Rubbed on the skin in a boiled-down decoction or tincture, it is said to work as an insect repellant and to ease pain and swelling from insect bites.

The decocted herb is supposed to yield a blond dye.

Camomile