Matricaria chamomilla and Chamaemelum nobile
Chamomile is an aromatic flower best known as an infusion plant. The name covers more than one species, with German chamomile and Roman chamomile being the most familiar food and garden types.1
Chamomile can be grown in Maine gardens, and its flowers are among the edible herb blooms noted by UMaine Extension.1
German chamomile is a taller annual, while Roman chamomile is a low perennial. Slicing a German chamomile flower head reveals a hollow receptacle, one useful detail for separating it from some similar-looking plants. Both familiar chamomiles are described as apple-scented.2
Roman chamomile, Chamaemelum nobile, and German chamomile, Matricaria chamomilla, have similar uses despite belonging to different genera. Their flower heads—not individual petals alone—are the part ordinarily infused, and chamomile oil is also used to flavor beverages and confectionery.3
Footnotes
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University of Maine Cooperative Extension, “Maine Home Garden Newsletter — May 2026,” 2026. ↩ ↩2
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University of Illinois Extension, “Chamomile: Discover 2025’s Herb of the Year,” 2025; University of Minnesota Extension, “Edible Flowers,” accessed July 17, 2026. ↩
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John Vaughan and Catherine Geissler, The New Oxford Book of Food Plants, 2nd ed. (Oxford University Press, 2009), p. 164 (PDF p. 199). ↩