After we said quite a few words on my dilemma about whether I had Roman or German chamomile in my garden, Mother Nature herself helped me to solve the puzzle. I got myself quite a few botanical books, dissected chamomile petals under a magnifying glass, read articles. But all that time I missed a vivid comparison of the two types of chamomile.

Today, while hoeing chamomile in the garden, I came across a place where two chamomile plants were unusually different. One tall and more slender, the other short and bushy. At first I thought it was interesting how differently they grew, even though I had planted them at the same time. Then it clicked on me – of course, these are Roman and German chamomile together, exactly what I was looking for. In that instant, everything I had read earlier was confirmed. German chamomile is taller, the inflorescence is conical, the petals are slightly different and the petioles of the baskets are hollow at the end. No dilemma remains, I got a German instead of a Roman chamomile seed. It’s probably what was meant to be, because today I find that German chamomile smells much better than Roman chamomile, at least to me.