Object: Chamomile

Chamomile tea, to help sooth and encourage sleep, was part of a standard medicinal garden.    This tiny flower is still used today in bedtime teas.    Two types of chamomile are commonly used in making tea:  German chamomile (Matricaria recutita) and Roman chamomile (Chamaemelum nobile).    These teas would have been seen in the apothecary shelves in New Netherland.    Chamomile was grown so extensively by the Dutch in the Hudson Valley that it often grows as a weed in gravel driveways during the summer.