ISHS Acta Horticulturae 749: I International Symposium on Chamomile Research, Development and Production
RELEVANCE AND USE OF CHAMOMILE (MATRICARIA RECUTITA L.) |
| Authors: | R. Franke, H. Schilcher |
| Keywords: | breeding, constituents, cultivation, drug names, harvest, processing, stress, use |
| DOI: | 10.17660/ActaHortic.2007.749.2 |
| Abstract:
This paper is meant to have a more general look at the Chamomile plant – not only from the point of view of a pharmacologist and physician, but also from the point of view of the industry and the use of the plant. For more than 2000 years, preparations of chamomile flowers count among the medicinal treasure of various culture groups. Since ancient times, “the chamomile” has survived the storms of time as well as the different trends in the art of healing throughout the world. It is certainly one of the most fascinating medicinal plants of our globe, although the “true chamomile”, often called “German chamomile”, is native only of Europe and the Near East, but naturalised in many other regions, too. There are only few medicinal plants with a millenium-lasting successful therapeutic use that can claim to be part of a wide interdisciplinary scientific research. Over 50 years ago, the first attempts in cultivation and breeding were made and these are still up-to-date. Already in 1921, the company Chemiewerke Homburg received the patent for the first chamomile extract. Still today, the university and industrial research groups work on the optimal extraction and optimal stability of the constituents that have an influence on the efficacy in the different galenic preparations. The relatively good findings on hydrophile and lipophile components are not finalised yet, as the youngest analytic results show. | |
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