Cota tinctoria

Cota tinctoria
Yellow chamomile
Yellow Camomille (Cota tinctoria)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Genus: Cota
Species: C. tinctoria
Binomial name
Cota tinctoria
(L.) J. Gay ex Guss. [1]
Synonyms

Anthemis tinctoria (L.) (basionym)

Yellow chamomile flower and bud

Cota tinctoria, or Golden Marguerite and Yellow Chamomile, is a species in the genus Anthemis of the Sunflower family (Asteraceae).

This popular flower has several common names : Golden Marguerite, Marguerite Daisy, Dyer's Chamomile, Ox-eye Chamomile, Boston Daisies, Paris Daisies.

It is a short-lived biennial, occurring in the Mediterranean and western Asia. It has aromatic, bright green, feathery foliage. The serrate leaves are bi-pinnatifid (= finely divided) and downy beneath. It grows to a height of 60 cm.

It has yellow daisy-like terminal flowers on long thin angular stems, blooming in profusion during the summer.

It has no culinary or commercial uses and only limited medicinal uses. However, it produces excellent yellow, buff and golden-orange dyes, used in the past for fabrics.

Cota tinctoria is grown in gardens for its bright attractive flowers and fine lacy foliage; there is a white flowering form also but the most commonly grown form is the seed raised cultivar 'Kelwayi' which has 5 cm wide, yellow flowers on 65 cm plants. The asexually propagated cultivar 'E.C. Buxton' is a hybrid between this species and another Anthemis species.

Illustration
Habitat

References

  1. ^ Florae Siculae Synopsis 2: 866. 1844 [1845].