Menu list goes here

Herbal Database Search Results

Back to: Pathways Main Search Page For Metaphysical uses visit The Witchs Haven

Anthemis cotula

Common name:	Mayweed	Family:	Compositae
Author:	L.	Botanical references:	17, 200
Synonyms:
Known Hazards:	The whole plant is penetrated by an acrid juice, touching or ingesting the plant can cause allergies in some people[4, 222].
Range:	Most of Europe, including Britain, east to N. and W. Asia.
Habitat:	Waste places usually on heavy soil[4, 17].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	2	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	2

Other Possible Synonyms:	From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below.
	A. cotulata[H] Maruta cotula[B,P]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Amarusca [E], Camomille Puante [E], Cotula Fetida [E], Cotula Foetida [E], Dog Chamomile [H], Dog Fennel [E,L], Dog-Fennel [H], Hunds Kamille [E], Macela Fetida [E], Manzanilla Hedionda [E], May-weed Chamomile [L], Stinkende Kamille [D,E], Stinking Chamomile [B,H,P,E,L], Stinking Mayweed [H], Stinkweed [L], Wild Chamomile [E],
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Asterales. Renamed to Asteraceae -- Aster family
Other Range Info:	From the Ethnobotany Database
	Britain France France Germany Ireland Italy Mexico(Kickapoo) Netherlands Portugal Spain Us
Noxious, Invasive and Injurious Weeds	From USDA PLANTS database, Weeds Australia , DEFRA Injurious Weeds
	Listed as noxious/invasive for: Colorado, Tasmaina.

Physical Characteristics

Annual growing to 0.6m by 0.25m . It is hardy to zone 5 and is not frost tender. It is in flower in July. The scented flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Flies and beetles. The plant is self-fertile. We rate it 2/5 for edibility and 2/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils and can grow in heavy clay soil. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It requires dry or moist soil.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Cultivated Beds.

Edible Uses

Leaves Tea.

The herb is used as a flavouring in Peru[183]. It is aromatic. Caution is advised, there are some reports of toxicity.
A herb tea is made from the flowers in a similar way to camomile tea[183] and it has a similar though weaker effect medicinally[4]. The odour is not very pleasant and so it is not commonly used[4].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

Antispasmodic Astringent Diaphoretic Diuretic Emetic Emmenagogue Stings Tonic.

Mayweed is closely related to camomile, but is far less effective as a medicine[254]. It has been used as an antispasmodic and to induce menstruation and was traditionally used to treat supposedly hysterical conditions related to the uterus[254]. It is rarely used in contemporary herbal medicine[254].
The whole plant is antispasmodic, astringent, diaphoretic, diuretic, emetic, emmenagogue and tonic[4, 61]. It is used internally as a tea, which can be made either from the flowers or the whole plant, though the flowers are less unpleasant and so are more commonly used[4]. An infusion is used in the treatment of a variety of complaints such as rheumatism, epilepsy, asthma, colds and fevers[257]. Applied externally, it is used as a poultice on piles or to draw splinters out of the body, and can also be applied to the bath water[4, 257].
The leaves are rubbed onto insect stings[222]. Some people are allergic to the plant and this remedy could give them painful blisters[240].
This herb is contraindicated for pregnant women or nursing mothers[254].

Other Uses

Dye Repellent.

The growing and the dried plant is said to repel mice and fleas[4, 20], it can also be used as an insecticide[21, 61, 100].
A gold dye is obtained from the whole plant[168, 169].

Cultivation details

Prefers a sunny position and a well-drained soil that is neutral to slightly acid[1, 200]. Succeeds in heavy clay soils.
Bees dislike this plant[4].
The leaves contain glands which release a most disagreeable odour when the plant is handled and can cause allergic reactions in people.

Propagation

Seed - best sown outdoors as soon as it is ripe. Most of the seed germinates in the autumn.

Scent

Leaves: Crushed: The leaves contain glands which release a most disagreeable odour when the plant is handled. The flowers also have a disagreeable odour.

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

Web References

Details of Medicinal Uses, Habitats, etc. in M. Grieve A Modern Herbal (1931) [4]
[H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database
[E] Ethnobotany Data (common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.
[V] Images from the Vascular Plant Image Gallery of the Texas A& M Bioinformatics Working Group.
[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[C] Taxon data. from the CalFlora database.
Images from the CalPhoto database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[1] F. Chittendon. RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 Oxford University Press 1951
Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaces in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [200]).

[4] Grieve. A Modern Herbal. Penguin 1984 ISBN 0-14-046-440-9
Not so modern (1930's?) but lots of information, mainly temperate plants.

[17] Clapham, Tootin and Warburg. Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press 1962
A very comprehensive flora, the standard reference book but it has no pictures.

[20] Riotte. L. Companion Planting for Successful Gardening. Garden Way, Vermont, USA. 1978 ISBN 0-88266-064-0
Fairly good.

[21] Lust. J. The Herb Book. Bantam books 1983 ISBN 0-553-23827-2
Lots of information tightly crammed into a fairly small book.

[61] Usher. G. A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. Constable 1974 ISBN 0094579202
Forget the sexist title, this is one of the best books on the subject. Lists a very extensive range of useful plants from around the world with very brief details of the uses. Not for the casual reader.

[100] Polunin. O. Flowers of Europe - A Field Guide. Oxford University Press 1969 ISBN 0192176218
An excellent and well illustrated pocket guide for those with very large pockets. Also gives some details on plant uses.

[168] Grae. I. Nature's Colors - Dyes from Plants. MacMillan Publishing Co. New York. 1974 ISBN 0-02-544950-8
A very good and readable book on dyeing.

[169] Buchanan. R. A Weavers Garden.
Covers all aspects of growing your own clothes, from fibre plants to dyes.

[183] Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications 1990 ISBN 0-9628087-0-9
Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

[222] Foster. S. & Duke. J. A. A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants. Eastern and Central N. America. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1990 ISBN 0395467225
A concise book dealing with almost 500 species. A line drawing of each plant is included plus colour photographs of about 100 species. Very good as a field guide, it only gives brief details about the plants medicinal properties.

[240] Chopra. R. N., Nayar. S. L. and Chopra. I. C. Glossary of Indian Medicinal Plants (Including the Supplement). Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi. 1986
Very terse details of medicinal uses of plants with a wide range of references and details of research into the plants chemistry. Not for the casual reader.

[245] Genders. R. Scented Flora of the World. Robert Hale. London. 1994 ISBN 0-7090-5440-8
An excellent, comprehensive book on scented plants giving a few other plant uses and brief cultivation details. There are no illustrations.

[254] Chevallier. A. The Encyclopedia of Medicinal Plants Dorling Kindersley. London 1996 ISBN 9-780751-303148
An excellent guide to over 500 of the more well known medicinal herbs from around the world.

[257] Moerman. D. Native American Ethnobotany Timber Press. Oregon. 1998 ISBN 0-88192-453-9
Very comprehensive but terse guide to the native uses of plants. Excellent bibliography, fully referenced to each plant, giving a pathway to further information. Not for the casual reader.

Readers Comments

Back to: Pathways Home page, Main Search Page Help Bibliography

Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
WEB search engine by Rich Morris - Home Page- Contact Info
Blagdon Cross, Ashwater, Beaworthy, Devon, EX21 5DF, UK.
Website: www.pfaf.org Phone: 0845 458 4719/_44(0) 1208 872963

This page (UK) http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk/cgi-bin/pfaf/arr_html?Anthemis+cotula
This page (US) http://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf/cgi-bin/arr_html?Anthemis+cotula

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
(You can copy, distribute, display this works but: Attribution is required, its for Non-Commercial purposes, and it's Share Alike (GNUish/copyleft) i.e. has an identical license.)
We also ask that you let us know (michael@thewitchshaven.com) if you link to, redistribute, make a derived work or do anything groovy with this information.

Pathways Home :: View Cart :: Shipping & Returns :: Contact Us :: Privacy Policy :: Philosophy :: The Witchs Haven

We make no claims of magical effects or supernatural powers for any item in this catalog. In spite of legendary attributes or occult and craft tradition, such items are offered as curios only and beliefs concerning their magical effectiveness are related only for historical interest.