Species
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Matricaria chamomilla L.

Annual Chamomile, Crown mayweed, Echte Kamille (DE); Scented Mayweed (EN); Manzanita comun (ES), German camomile

Climate known 64 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Matricaria chamomilla, commonly known as chamomile, German chamomile, Hungarian chamomile (kamilla), wild chamomile, blue chamomile, or scented mayweed, is an annual plant of the composite family Asteraceae. Commonly, the name M. recutita is applied to the herbal product chamomile, although other species are also used as chamomile. The plant is commonly used to make a tea.

Text from Wikipedia, “Matricaria chamomilla”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Matricaria

Matricaria is a genus of flowering plants in the chamomile tribe within the sunflower family. Some of the species have the common name of "mayweed", but this name also refers to plants not in this genus.

Text from Wikipedia, “Matricaria”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Asteraceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Denmark, Finland, Norway +67
Wild records
682 in range· 107 open

At a glance

Warmest month
26°C
Jul, mean day; nights 17 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
729mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Nov 72 mm (CHELSA)
Light
7–39DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (August to January and May to June in the northern hemisphere). Habitat rain 729 mm a year, wettest November at 72 mm, driest February at 49 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 7 to 39 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -8.3 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Anthemis vulgaris L.; Anthemis vulgaris L. ex Steud.; Camomilla patens Gilib.; Chamaemelum chamomilla (L.) E.H.L.Krause; Chamaemelum suaveolens E.H.L.Krause and 45 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (August to January and May to June in the northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (519 mm of 729 mm) takes 8 months, August to January and May to June. Mean temperature moves 19.2 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: February to July and November to December.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 729 mm a year, wettest November at 72 mm, driest February at 49 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

729 mm a year at the habitat, 519 mm of it August to January and May to June. Wettest month November at 72 mm, driest February at 49 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 460 mm to 969 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 7 to 39 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 7 to 39 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 4, the highest 90th-percentile month 48).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor -8.3 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -8.3 °C, the absolute minimum -18.8 °C, about 64 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 28.6 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 0.3 °C in January (across the envelope cells -4.8 °C to 6.6 °C), warmest day 26.3 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -8.3 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 57 to 65% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 6 °C in Jan to 26 °C in Jul; mean night from 0 °C in Jan to 17 °C in Jul. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 729 mm of rain a year, most in Nov. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 562 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -18.8 °C and the 99th-percentile day 28.6 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-20°-10°10°20°30°40°frost28.6° 99th-percentile day (undated)-18.8° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100125mm rainDLI 7–39RH 57–65 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 562 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C6 / 2–127 / 3–1311 / 8–1516 / 13–1820 / 17–2324 / 20–2826 / 22–3126 / 22–3122 / 18–2616 / 14–2110 / 7–177 / 3–13
Night °C0 / -5–70 / -4–73 / -1–96 / 4–1111 / 8–1515 / 11–1917 / 14–2217 / 14–2213 / 10–199 / 6–154 / 1–111 / -3–8
Rain mm57 / 30–9649 / 30–7955 / 33–7951 / 35–8363 / 30–9165 / 15–9455 / 8–9156 / 6–8766 / 20–9371 / 36–11072 / 41–11569 / 39–116
DLI9 / 5–1515 / 10–2123 / 17–3030 / 27–3736 / 32–4339 / 33–4839 / 33–4834 / 28–4325 / 19–3416 / 12–2410 / 6–167 / 4–13
RH %65 / 59–6862 / 58–6560 / 57–6358 / 55–6158 / 54–6158 / 52–6157 / 51–6158 / 51–6160 / 54–6362 / 57–6564 / 59–6865 / 60–69

Each figure is the median across the 562 grid cells holding the 672 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 787:3691 (50.625, 4.575). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -18.8 °C, 1st-percentile night -8.3 °C, 99th-percentile day 28.6 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 562 distinct grid cells holding the 672 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 787:3691 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 50.50_4.375, lapse-corrected -14 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 114 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeDenmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Switzerland, Baleares, France, Portugal, Sardegna, Spain, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Kriti, Romania, Sicilia, Turkey-in-Europe, Yugoslavia, Belarus, Krym, Central European Russia, East European Russia, South European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Ukraine, Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Azores, Canary Is., Altay, Buryatiya, Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk, Tuva, West Siberia, Yakutskiya, Kazakhstan, Kirgizistan, Tadzhikistan, Uzbekistan, North Caucasus, Transcaucasus, Afghanistan, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Iran, Iraq, Lebanon-Syria, Palestine, Sinai, Turkey, China South-Central, Manchuria, China North-Central, China Southeast, Xinjiang, Mongolia, Korea, Pakistan, West Himalaya, Myanmar, Vietnam· introduced: Great Britain, Ireland, Poland, Corse, Baltic States, North European Russia, Tunisia, Mali, Ethiopia, Magadan, Primorye, Gulf States, Jawa, New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand North, New Zealand South, Greenland, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Québec, Oregon, Washington, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode I., Vermont, Arizona, California, Utah, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, Tennessee, Virginia, District of Columbia, Mexico Southeast, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Juan Fernández Is., Paraguay, Uruguay
Kew's description“annual” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker50.845, 4.347 · in the densest population, 252 records (37% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 682 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 107 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 170 km away. 166 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 10 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 682 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Matricaria chamomillaMatricaria chamomillaMatricaria chamomillaMatricaria chamomillaMatricaria chamomillaMatricaria chamomillaMatricaria chamomillaMatricaria chamomilla

Photographs: (c) Beatrix Kammerer, some rights reserved (CC BY) (8).

Photographs: iNaturalist and GBIF media did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Matricaria chamomilla, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

A Review of the bioactivity and potential health benefits of chamomile tea (Matricaria recutita L.)
Diane L. McKay, Jeffrey B. Blumberg (2006) · Phytotherapy Research
Antibacterial Effects of the Essential Oils of Commonly Consumed Medicinal Herbs Using an In Vitro Model
Marina Sokóvić, Jasmina Glamočlija, Petar D. Marin, Dejan Brkić (2010) · Molecules
Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla L.): An overview
Ompal Singh, Zakia Khanam, Neelam Misra, ManojKumar Srivastava (2011) · Pharmacognosy Reviews/Bioinformatics Trends/Pharmacognosy review
Green synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles using different plant extracts and their antibacterial activity against Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae
Solabomi Olaitan Ogunyemi, Yasmine Abdallah, Muchen Zhang, Hatem Fouad (2019) · Artificial Cells Nanomedicine and Biotechnology
A Review of the Application and Pharmacological Properties of α ‐Bisabolol and α ‐Bisabolol‐Rich Oils
Guy Kamatou, Alvaro Viljoen (2009) · Journal of the American Oil Chemists Society
Pharmacological profile of apigenin, a flavonoid isolated from Matricaria chamomilla
Rossella Avallone, Paola Zanoli, Giulia Puia, M. Kleinschnitz (2000) · Biochemical Pharmacology
Antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of essential oil and extracts of fennel (Foeniculum vulgare L.) and chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla L.)
Mohamed H. H. Roby, Mohamed Atef Sarhan, Khaled A. Selim, Khalel Ibrahim Khalel (2012) · Industrial Crops and Products
The microbiome of medicinal plants: diversity and importance for plant growth, quality and health
Martina Köberl, Ruth Schmidt, Elshahat M. Ramadan, Rudolf Bauer (2013) · Frontiers in Microbiology
Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla L.): A Review of Ethnomedicinal Use, Phytochemistry and Pharmacological Uses
Amina El Mihyaoui, Joaquim C. G. Esteves da Silva, Saoulajan Charfi, María Emilia Candela Castillo (2022) · Life
Historical ethnobotanical review of medicinal plants used to treat children diseases in Romania (1860s–1970s)
Mădălina Petran, Dorin Dragoș, Marilena Gîlcă (2020) · Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence search API
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: filled 2026-09-20
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media did not answercarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: api.gbif.org not asked: offline re-derivation
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 11 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.