Chamomile is a creeping, small- to medium-sized perennial. The white-petalled daisy-type flowers are on longish stalks. The aromatic leaves grow alternately on the stem and are finely fragmented. The plant is downy.
This plant grows on gravelly pastures, roadsides and heaths, and is often seen in the south and west of Ireland, more rarely in the rest of the country. The cultivated non-flowering variety 'Treneague' is sometimes planted in gardens to make scented chamomile lawns. Chamomile tea, made out of the dried flower heads, is still used as a cure for indigestion in many countries. In Ireland it was considered a remedy for pleurisy, whooping cough and consumption, and was given as a tonic; even inhaling the aroma was said to be health-giving. The flowers bloom from June to August.
Chamomile is native to western Europe from the Netherlands southwards, to North Africa and to the Azores.