Matricaria chamomillaL.

German chamomileWild Chamomileblue chamomilecamomilechamomilemayweedscented mayweedwild chamomile

WFO wfo-0000003146 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Matricaria chamomilla, photographed by Юрий Данилевский (Yuriy Danilevsky)
fig. a Юрий Данилевский (Yuriy Danilevsky), CC BY 4.0 / 2022-06-12 / obs. 205772989

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 70 botanical countries

Regions where Matricaria chamomilla is native: Algeria, Azores, Canary Is., Egypt, Morocco, Afghanistan, Altay, Buryatiya, China North-Central, China South-Central, China Southeast, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Iran, Iraq, Irkutsk, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Korea, Krasnoyarsk, Lebanon-Syria, Manchuria, Mongolia, North Caucasus, Palestine, Sinai, Tadzhikistan, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Tuva, Uzbekistan, West Siberia, Xinjiang, Yakutiya, Myanmar, Pakistan, Vietnam, West Himalaya, Albania, Austria, Baleares, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Central European Russia, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, East European Russia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Kriti, Krym, Netherlands, Northwest European Russia, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Portugal, Romania, Sardegna, Sicilia, South European Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye-in-Europe, Ukraine AlgeriaEgyptMoroccoAfghanistanAltayBuryatiyaChina North-CentralChina South-CentralChina SoutheastCyprusEast Aegean Is.IranIraqIrkutskKazakhstanKirgizstanKrasnoyarskLebanon-SyriaManchuriaMongoliaNorth CaucasusPalestineSinaiTadzhikistanTranscaucasusTürkiyeTuvaUzbekistanWest SiberiaXinjiangYakutiyaMyanmarPakistanVietnamWest HimalayaAlbaniaAustriaBelarusBelgiumBulgariaCentral European RussiaCzechia-SlovakiaDenmarkEast European RussiaFinlandFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryItalyKritiKrymNetherlandsNorthwest European RussiaNorwayNW. Balkan Pen.PortugalRomaniaSiciliaSouth European RussiaSpainSwedenSwitzerlandTürkiye-in-EuropeUkraine AzoresCanary Is.KoreaBalearesSardegna
Native distribution of Matricaria chamomilla, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Albania ALB EUROPE
Austria AUT
Baleares BAL
Belarus BLR
Belgium BGM
Bulgaria BUL
Central European Russia RUC
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
Denmark DEN
East European Russia RUE
Finland FIN
France FRA
Germany GER
Greece GRC
Hungary HUN
Italy ITA
Kriti KRI
Krym KRY
Netherlands NET
Northwest European Russia RUW
Norway NOR
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Portugal POR
Romania ROM
Sardegna SAR
Sicilia SIC
South European Russia RUS
Spain SPA
Sweden SWE
Switzerland SWI
Türkiye-in-Europe TUE
Ukraine UKR
Afghanistan AFG ASIA-TEMPERATE
Altay ALT
Buryatiya BRY
China North-Central CHN
China South-Central CHC
China Southeast CHS
Cyprus CYP
East Aegean Is. EAI
Iran IRN
Iraq IRQ
Irkutsk IRK
Kazakhstan KAZ
Kirgizstan KGZ
Korea KOR
Krasnoyarsk KRA
Lebanon-Syria LBS
Manchuria CHM
Mongolia MON
North Caucasus NCS
Palestine PAL
Sinai SIN
Tadzhikistan TZK
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR
Tuva TVA
Uzbekistan UZB
West Siberia WSB
Xinjiang CHX
Yakutiya YAK
Algeria ALG AFRICA
Azores AZO
Canary Is. CNY
Egypt EGY
Morocco MOR
Myanmar MYA ASIA-TROPICAL
Pakistan PAK
Vietnam VIE
West Himalaya WHM

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Flowering 937 in flower of 939 examined

Proportion of examined Matricaria chamomilla in flower, by month
Month In flower Examined Share 95% interval
Jan 9 9 100% 70% to 100%
Feb 12 12 100% 76% to 100%
Mar 19 19 100% 83% to 100%
Apr 122 124 98% 94% to 100%
May 254 254 100% 99% to 100%
Jun 233 233 100% 98% to 100%
Jul 108 108 100% 97% to 100%
Aug 71 71 100% 95% to 100%
Sep 44 44 100% 92% to 100%
Oct 42 42 100% 92% to 100%
Nov 17 17 100% 82% to 100%
Dec 6 6 100% 61% to 100%

Peak flowering in Jan. Each bar is the share of Matricaria chamomilla observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 937 of 939 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Where it actually grows measured, from 1,966 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -9.1 °C -0.7 °C 8.5 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 18.5 °C 23.4 °C 31.4 °C
Annual rainfall 436 mm 769 mm 1,354 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 22 mm 135 mm 236 mm

It is found where winters bring hard frost. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 1,966 research-grade observations of Matricaria chamomilla that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one. Climate from CHELSA V2.1 (Karger et al. 2017); occurrences from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.