ISHS Acta Horticulturae 306: International Symposium on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, XXIII IHC
EXPERIMENTS ON ELABORATING GROWING TECHNICS FOR CHAMOMILE IN FINLAND |
| Authors: | B. Galambosi, Z. Galambosi-Szebeni |
| Abstract:
Chamomile, a plant of South- and South-East European origin is not indigenous in the northern regions of Europe, but through its importance has spread there too. In Denmark it is present everywhere, in Sweden it has spread in the southern part of the country and in the neighbourhood of Stockholm; in Norway chamomile is but sporadically found near to the harbours; in Finland it is frequent plant on the Ahvenamaai islands and in the south-western regions of the country, while in Middle Finland it is very scarce. In Finland, like in other countries of the world, chamomile is considered and used as an important medicinal plant. As to its importance, a valuable source is the "Flora Fennicae", a work written in 1860 by Lönnrot, compiler of the Kalevala, in wich detailed description is given of its utilization as a medicinal plant. Its natural stands in Southern Finland were heavily thinned by an extensive agricultural and roadside chemical weed control in the sixties and seventies, and at present all chamomile flower drugs sold in the pharmacies and bio-shops are imported goods. According to a survey in 1982 the volume of imports was 8,7 tons, 521.000 FM in value (Hälvä, 1985). Therefore in the five-year experiment programme aimed at studying the possibilities of growing the most important medicinal - and seasoning plants in Finland chamomile was given outstanding importance. On chamomile cultivation in Finland very few earlier data are available. Guides for medicinal plant cultivation published in 1915 contain basic information concerning the collection and cultivation of chamomile (Grotenfelt, 1915). Franz et al. (1986) published the results obtained between 1976 and 1984 in comparative culture pot experiments carried out under different ecological conditions. Accordingly, cultivation in Helsinki under long-day conditions had no negative effect on the quantity and composition of the essential oil content of chamomile. With the Central European yield averages (3–5 q/h) taken into consideration, the chamomile import of Finland can be harvested from 15–20 ha production area. To be fully informed about the possibilities of chamomile production in Finland we thought it necessary to carry out cultivation under semi-operative conditions parallel to the small plot experiments. | |
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