https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/187828360

This week, I bring the Chamomile plant. This is another species that I see during the summertime, but in a different form. I called them spider weed (I've heard other people call the plant pineapple weed) because I would walk through the plant, and spiders would always crawl on my legs. So, my relationship with this plant didn't start out on the right leg, if you know what I mean. Bad jokes aside, I never cared for the plant; it reminded me of spiders, which I hate, and it wasn't all that appealing to look at. Frankly, it looked like some alien plant sprouted in my yard, and it wouldn't leave. No matter how much I tried, I couldn't get rid of the weeds, and I saw them sprouting all over my neighborhood in the gravel. They are also extremely resilient, like dandelions. I never realized that they turned into flowers or were actually an herb.

"The Tanainas boil the whole above-ground portion of the plant in water, strain the tea, and give it to a new mother and her baby to drink. They say it cleans them out and helps the mother's milk start"(Viereck). Tea from the whole plant is bitter, and tea made from the flowers is fragrant and sweet (Viereck). "The Kenai Tanainas give the tea to anyone who needs a laxative and use it as a wash for the eyes and skin" (Viereck). The tea was used as a cure-all for the Aleuts and Russians (Viereck). The commercial chamomile called Anthemis is used to treat all kinds of things, from colds, fevers, headaches, sores, coughs, and the list goes on (Viereck). Anthemis is so versatile that it makes me wonder why I haven't heard of it before.

Anthemis is a subspecies of the Chamomile plant, and the family they belong to is actually the daisy (Singh et al.). "chamomile is an annual plant with thin spindle-shaped roots only penetrating flatly into the soil. The branched stem is erect, heavily ramified, and grows to a height of 10–80 cm" (Singh et al.). The flower heads are arranged separately and are white in color. The yellow-to-brown center part is considered a fruit or achene (Singh et al.). They get the name pineapple weed because they smell like pineapples (Viereck).

All the spices I've learned about have taught me to look at things closely because you might discover something new.

Sources:

Viereck, Eleanor. “Chamomile.” Alaska’s Wilderness Medicines, Alaska Northwest Books, 1995, www.ankn.uaf.edu/curriculum/books/Viereck/viereckchamomile.html. Accessed 16 Oct. 2023.

Singh, Ompal, et al. "Chamomile (Matricaria Chamomilla L.): An Overview." Pharmacognosy Reviews, vol. 5, no. 9, 2011, pp. 82-95, https://doi.org/10.4103/0973-7847.79103. Accessed 16 Oct. 2023.

Publicado el octubre 18, 2023 08:02 TARDE por hannahbanana05