- Latin name
- Matricaria chamomilla, Chamaemelum nobile
- Family
- Daisy family (Asteraceae)
- Origin
- Egypt, Morocco, England, Eastern Europe
- Parts used
- flower heads
- Raw materials
- essential oil, absolute
- Extraction
- steam distillation, extraction
- Olfactory group
- herbal, floral
- Position in the pyramid
- heart
- Synthetic substitutes
- herbal and hay bases, coumarin
Chamomile is a small meadow flower with white petals and a yellow centre, familiar to everyone from tea and the home medicine cabinet. Perfumery uses German and Roman chamomile: the oil of the first is dark blue, that of the second pale and apple-like.
How it smells: soft, herbal and honeyed: dried flowers, warm hay, a light apple and faintly bitter shade. Chamomile sounds soothing, cosy and summery, like a cup of herbal tea in the evening.
German chamomile oil has an unusual dark-blue colour, which comes from chamazulene — a substance that forms during distillation. Roman chamomile smells lighter and fruitier, with a noticeable apple shade.
What it pairs with: with honey and hay — a “summer meadow”, with lavender — calming herbal compositions, with bergamot — a fresh herbal opening, with iris and musk — soft powdery fragrances, with woods — warm natural compositions.
Good to know: the name chamomile comes from the Greek “chamaimēlon”, “earth apple”: that is how the Greeks described the apple-like scent of the flowers.
