Warning: Individuals with high blood pressure should not use chamomile. It should not be consumed more than 3 cups per day.
German chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla L.) is known in our country as common chamomile, babunç, medicinal chamomile, or simply chamomile. It generally grows in clayey soils, forest meadows, and grain fields. Its difference from wild chamomile is that the inside of its yellow flower base is hollow and its scent is more potent. Flowers should be collected from May to August, in the midday sun.
Benefits and Uses
It can be given to children, especially for cramps and abdominal pain. It helps with gas accumulation, diarrhea, skin rashes, stomach discomforts, and phlegm. It also provides benefits for menstrual irregularities, uterine complaints, insomnia, testicular inflammation, high fever, wounds, and toothaches.
It has diaphoretic (sweat-inducing), calming, and antispasmodic effects. It is used as a disinfectant and anti-inflammatory for all types of inflammation, especially mucosal inflammations. It is applied externally as a compress for eye and eyelid inflammations, as a gargle for toothache, and for washing wounds.
It is also valuable in skin and hair care. When the face is washed once a week with boiled plant water, the skin is refreshed and gains a healthy color. When chamomile water is used for light-colored hair, the hair gains shine. Chamomile ointment can be used against hemorrhoids, and chamomile steam can be used against colds and sinusitis.
Methods of Use
Tea: Half or one teaspoon of flowers is steeped (not boiled) with a cup of boiling water, left to infuse for 8-10 minutes, then strained and drunk.
Bath additive: For a full bath, four handfuls, or for washing face or hair, one handful of chamomile is steeped in boiling water for 10 minutes, then added to the bath water.
Compress: A cup of boiling milk is poured over a tablespoon of flowers, steeped for 8-10 minutes, the pulp is strained, and a compress is made with the warm milk.
Herbal pillow: A pillow made of linen cloth is filled with dried flowers, and its opening is sewn shut. It is heated in a dry pan and placed on the affected organ.
Chamomile oil: Flowers collected on a sunny day are loosely packed into a bottle, extra virgin olive oil is added on top. The bottle is left in the sun for 14 days, shaken occasionally and opened; then it is strained through cheesecloth and stored in dark-colored bottles.
