The small white flower on a straight branching stem attracts the attention of many, as passers-by confuse it with a medicinal plant called chamomile. But it is worth leaning lower, as a clear difference becomes noticeable - the flower has no smell at all. The thing is that this is an odorless chamomile, that is, a weed common in fields and gardens.
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The Latin name of this representative of the plant kingdom is Matricaria inodora L. In the people, a white flower is called dog chamomile, wild chamomile or matronka. The class to which the plant is classified is dicotyledonous. The flower belongs to the aster family. The genus of the plant is a trihedral.
It is visually difficult to imagine what odorless chamomile can have to do with asters. The family unites a large group of herbaceous plants with a complex flower representing a basket of small flowers. They may be tubular or reed, and in somerepresentatives basket mixed. The odorless chamomile in the basket combines both tubular and reed flowers, which is fully consistent with the declared family.
The stalk of odorless chamomile is quite high, it can rise up to 70 cm above the ground. The stem is hollow inside, furrowed outside. Her leaves are pinnately dissected, consisting of filiform lobes. The type of inflorescence is a round-shaped basket. It is located at the ends of stems or branches. The leaflets covering the basket have a blunt elongated shape, the receptacle is slightly conical. The marginal flowers of the basket are reed-shaped white. They are longer than the covering petals. The middle part of the inflorescence consists of yellow tubular flowers.
What does the plant look like?
Odorless chamomile has slightly flattened dark brown achene fruits. A distinctive feature of the fetus is a short leathery crest. The length of each achene is not more than 2 mm, the width is 1 mm. The weight is also quite small, it can range from 0.2 to 0.5 mg.
The shape of the fruit is reflected in the name of the plant genus. Precisely because the achene has three clear edges, the odorless chamomile was assigned to the genus of the three-ribs.
Where is the plant found?
Odorless chamomile is a weed that clogs grain fields and fodder meadows. It is found in dachas and gardens, on roadsides and around garbage dumps. Often weeds are found along the banks of water bodies. The plant is especially dangerous for winter rye crops near forest plantations.
Odorless chamomile requires a certain levelhumidity, therefore, in drier places, it gradually moves to beams, ravines and lowlands. The plant has spread widely throughout Europe, captured Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, the countries of the Lesser Caucasus and partly China.
Not very plentiful thickets of dog chamomile are found in North Asia and America.
Some features of odorless chamomile
Matronka blooms from mid-May to late autumn. The flower propagates with the help of seeds, which ripen in large quantities in each plant. One odorless chamomile produces up to 30 thousand seeds per season. If the plant is bushy, then this figure is much higher. The seeds litter the soil and are dispersed by the feet of humans and animals, as well as by the wind. Seed germination persists for a long time (up to 6 years).
Economic value of the plant
In terms of the content of essential oils, odorless chamomile, the photo of which is found in textbooks and reference books, is significantly inferior to pharmacy chamomile. Therefore, this species is not considered as a medicinal plant. Although at home it is sometimes dried and used for treatment.
Dog chamomile is also not used as a fodder crop, as animals bypass it in pastures. This suggests the conclusion that odorless chamomile has no economic value and can only be considered as a weed.
How to deal with it?
To overcome this type of weed, it is necessary to observe the correct crop rotation and take care ofcrops. The soil should be cultivated by the semi-stubble peeling method. Be sure to carry out early fall plowing and post-sowing treatment, including fallow treatment.
In the fields, weeding work is carried out in the aisles, and if necessary, in the rows. In addition, it is necessary to mow odorless chamomile in uncultivated areas before flowering begins.
