Cota tinctoria

Dyer's Chamomile ( Anthemis tinctoria )

The Dyer's Chamomile ( Anthemis tinctoria, Syn Cota tinctoria ), which is also called Dyer's Chamomile, is a species of plant in the sunflower family ( Asteraceae). She is an old dye plant, which is native to Central Europe.

Description

Vegetative characteristics

The Dyer's Chamomile is a perennial, rarely annual or biennial herbaceous plant that reaches the stature heights of up to 80 centimeters. It has a woody rootstock. The upright stem is hairy tomentose. The leaves are finely pinnate, their underside is gray-white.

Generative features

On a stem usually is only a basket- shaped inflorescence, reaching a diameter of up to 4 inches. The flower heads contain golden yellow (with ornamental varieties also white, pale yellow or orange ) tongue and tubular flowers. The achenes are only 0.5 mm in length and weigh 0.4 mg. They are winged nearly two-edged and narrow. A pappus is lacking.

The flowering period extends from June to September.

Ecology

The Dyer's Chamomile is a short-lived Hemikryptophyt and a half rosette plant.

The flowers are "basket flower " with 350 to 500 hermaphrodite disc florets and 30 to 50 ( rarely absent) ray florets. The cups are closed at night. The stamens are irritable. Pollinators are bees and various other insects.

With its pappus are the fruits of the wind spread; also carried people spread as an ornamental plant and crop.

Occurrence

The Dyer's Chamomile is native to Central Europe. It is cultivated and wild ( e) occasionally.

The Färberkamille thrives in dry meadows, along roadsides, embankments, on wasteland, in vineyards, as well as on steppe slopes and scrubby places. It grows on dry, often humus and fine earth poor stone floors. The Färberkamille is kalkliebend. It comes in the hill and montane zone before up to 1000 meters.

Use

The Dyer's Chamomile is an old dye plant, its flower heads are used to dye wool and linen in a rich, warm yellow. For protein fibers (eg: wool, silk) is the little light staining and washable, on cotton or hemp, the intense yellow color tones are very lightfast. The main coloring of the flowers is luteolin (3 ', 4', 5,7 Tetrahydroxyflavonol ), on what other ingredients the color is due, is not known.

Cultivation

In the extension of the Färberkamille is unproblematic. It is very tolerant with regard to the soil as well as against climatic influences except high humidity, leading to excessive formation of sheets at the cost of the flowers. A too rich fertilization with more than 80 kg N / ha calls forth luxuriant vegetative growth, but delayed flowering and increases the shelf slope. Neither pests or diseases are known. Occasionally, downy mildew occur, but this is not worth reducing.

In field cultivation moderate the mechanical sowing is done in a flat feinkrümeliges seedbed in August and September or early in the spring as possible. In general, neither fertilization nor plant protection are necessary in heavy weed growth can be a weed control by mechanical hoe, weeding or harrowing. The inflorescences can be harvested with Kamillepflückmaschinen, but must be harvested several times and dried immediately at 40 ° C. The yield of air-dry inflorescence is about 20 to 25 dt / ha. The production costs in Germany amount to around 2 to 3.50 euros per kilogram, the world market price is in the range of 7.50 euro per kg ( as of 2004).

Trivial names

For the Färberkamille or were, sometimes only regionally, including the names Gilbblume, gold flowers, giel Jehonnesbluamen ( Transylvania), locust flowers, geel chamomile, oxeye, beef eye stone flower (Worms ), Sterkblumen and string flowers common.