Chamomile (Matricaria recutita)

Medical-Care News

Herbal extract eases therapy complication

Being treated for cancer is tough enough, but often the therapy's side effects add even more insult to injury. One such complication, called oral mucositis (ulcerations in the mouth), however, may have met its match in the form of an oral rinse consisting of a chamomile extract.

The article offers health-related information on Chamomile flowers. Chamomile is a herb that aides in digestion. It is rich in absorbable calcium/magnesium and other bone building minerals. Chamo...

The chamomiles (or camomiles) have long been used and cultivated by Europeans and Americans. There is hardly one western herbal published in the past 500 years that does not include this group of plants. Tyler (1993) notes that the Germans refer to it as alles zutraut (capable of anything), equating its reputation (though not uses) as a popular European herb with the status afforded ginseng in other cultures.

Nomenclature

Chamomile has been revered since before the time of the Egyptians as being a wonderful healing herb to soothe many of mankind's problems. The proving of Chamomile appeared in Hahnemann's Fragmenta de Biribus and in the second edition of the third volume of the Materica Medica Pura. The source of the remedy is the German Camomile. It is a member of the daisy family.

Chamomile, Matricaria recutita L. (Chamomilla recutita (L.) Rauschert), can be considered a star among medicinal species. Numerous cases where the essential oil and/or other components of this plant produced curative effects have been documented ( 1, 3) and the plant is included in the pharmacopoeia of 26 countries ( 4). Pharmacological properties include anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, carminative, healing, sedative, and spasmolytic activity. One constituent, (-)-à-bisabolol, is regularly recommended in the treatment of ulcers induced by alcohol or X-ray burns.