Chamomile experts: Please help

My head is spinning. I hope you can make it stop.

I planted chamomile seeds on the hugel bed. In addition I have some kind of weed on the farm that looks a lot like the chamomile, either mayweed, or some other look a like.

I guess I can take out a tea bag and see if I can smell what chamomile smells like... but does anyone know how to tell chamomile apart from all these imposters. There are SO MANY names for the weeds. False mayweed, scentless mayweed, yadda yada.   Maybe I shouldn't try to grow chamomile...

Thanks in advance for any ideas or websites.

Best,
Caroline in Idaho

What if you started some chamomile in a seedling tray first so you could be sure of the ID on at least that plant?

Well, thats a great idea.  Maybe I’ll give that a whirl next year.
Thanks for the good idea.
Best, Caroline

I have two thoughts for you. Hope they help a bit.

The first is, rub the flower between your fingers and smell. Chamomile smells like a sort of flowery apple to me.

The other is, if you have a smartphone, take a picture of each plant. There's a button you can press that will match your picture up the best it can to a database (possibly google images) and help you identify it. I find I need to take a couple pictures... close up of the bloom is good, and one where the leaves show well.

The smell test is a good idea. The live plant smells just like the dried version. I haven't seen anything personally that resembles it.

Caroline LaVin wrote:does anyone know how to tell chamomile apart from all these imposters.

Smell it. Taste it.

Camomile is generally considered pleasant/mild. The imposters are likely to be bitter/stinky.