🌸 Chamomile Oils

GERMAN CHAMOMILE Matricaria chamomilla

Key Properties

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🌸 Accepted name 🌸 El-Assri: harvest 🌸 El-Assri: identification 🌸 El-Assri: the oil 🌸 El-Assri: analysis 🌸 El-Assri: Table 1 🌸 Yadav: cultivation 🌸 Yadav: the oil 🌸 Yadav: oil content 🌸 Yadav: analysis 🌸 Yadav: Table 3 🌸 ISO standards 🌸 References
Introduction
Matricaria chamomilla L.

Species

BinomialMatricaria chamomilla
Accepted nameMatricaria chamomilla L.
POWO statusaccepted
FamilyAsteraceae
IPNI identifierurn:lsid:ipni.org:names:154715-2
ISO standardISO 19332:2020

Source: Govaerts R. (ed.), World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP), Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, accessed on 21/09/2026.

Source: ISO 19332:2020.

According to the World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP, Kew), in the extract read on 21 September 2026, Matricaria chamomilla L. is a name of rank “Species” with the status “Accepted”, placed in the family Asteraceae. In the blue essential oil from fresh capitula at the “full blossom” stage (RS-4 and -5) analysed by Yadav et al. (2022), Table 3 gives “Bisabolol oxide A” at 62.32 ± 0.83 in the “Full blossom (%)” column.

Which name is accepted, and how do the names used in the sources relate to it?

The WCVP record of Matricaria chamomilla L. carries the identifier 2906535. El-Assri et al. (2025) write the name “M. chamomilla (L.)”. On the rbcL marker alone, the same authors identified their sequence as “M. chamomilla var. recutita”, a name given here as they write it. The titles of the two ISO standards listed below write “Chamomilla recutita (L.) Rauschert”.

Where were the flowers distilled by El-Assri et al. (2025) harvested?

According to El-Assri et al. (2025), the flowers (“flowers”) from which their essential oil was obtained were harvested (“harvested”) on the morning of 1 April 2022, during the peak flowering season (“peak flowering season”), in the Tahar Souk region, about 50 km from the town of Taounate (Morocco), at 35°1’22” N, 4°8’27” W and an altitude of 592 m.

How was the El-Assri et al. material identified?

The collected plant material was identified by Amina Bari, a botanist in the Biology Department of the Faculty of Sciences (FSDM), Fez (Morocco), and received the specimen number 05–21-TT0015. PCR amplification of the rbcL gene of the sample yielded products of about 600 bp. Sequence A, deposited in GenBank under the accession number OR838665, was identified by the authors, on this single marker and after BLAST analysis (NCBI GenBank), as “M. chamomilla var. recutita”.

How was the El-Assri et al. oil obtained?

The essential oil was extracted from 100 g of plant material (“plant material”) with 1 L of distilled water, by hydrodistillation for 2 h in a Clevenger-type apparatus.

After extraction, the oil (EO-MC) was dehydrated over anhydrous sodium sulfate, filtered, and stored in sealed flasks at 4 °C. The authors give the yield of the oil obtained by Clevenger (MCEO) as approximately 0.45 ± 0.26 % (w/w).

How was the El-Assri et al. oil analysed?

The composition of the oil was determined by GC-MS on two capillary columns: an HP-5MS (30 m × 0.25 mm i.d., 0.25 μm film, non-polar stationary phase) and a DB-HeavyWAX (30 m × 0.25 mm i.d., 0.25 μm film, polar stationary phase). The oven started at 50 °C (held 2 min), rose to 150 °C at 3 °C/min then to 250 °C at 10 °C/min, with a 10 min hold; the carrier gas was helium at a constant flow of 1.0 mL/min; 1 µL was injected in split mode (ratio 1:20); injector and detector were at 250 °C. Mass spectrometry used electron impact (EI) at 70 eV with a scan range of m/z 40–450, and compounds were identified by comparing mass spectra and calculated retention indices with the “NIST-MS Search Version 2.0” library and literature data.

What does Table 1 of El-Assri et al. (2025) report for their oil?

According to El-Assri et al. (2025), 26 compounds (“26 chemical compounds”) were identified in their oil (EO-MC); in their Table 1, the same name “Prenyl isobutyrate” appears twice (peaks 3 and 10).

According to El-Assri et al. (2025), sesquiterpenes (“sesquiterpenes”) are the predominant chemical class of their oil analysed by GC/MS, at 56.57 %, followed by monoterpenes (“monoterpenes”) at 30.15 %. These are the classes as Table 1 assigns them: its 30.15 % “Monoterpenes (MNT)” includes peak 8, named “Caprinic acid” in the table and “caprylic acid” in the text. In Table 1, the retention indices do not follow the order of the retention times. Each compound is listed below under the name Table 1 gives it, with its percentage of peak area (“Area (%)”).

  • Peak 1, “p-Menthane”: 1.97 %.
  • Peak 2, “Eucalyptol”: 1.25 %.
  • Peak 3 (retention time 11.475), named “Prenyl isobutyrate” (RI 1054/1050): 1.41 %; the same name and the same RI appear at peak 10 of the same table: the identification is given two ways for two distinct peaks.
  • Peak 4, “Germacrene”, written without an isomer as the table gives it: 19.46 %.
  • Peak 5, “Phenyl-tert-butanol”: 3.34 %.
  • Peak 6, “Limonen-10-ol”: 2.21 %.
  • Peak 7, “Butanoate”, an incomplete name as the table writes it: 1.54 %.
  • Peak 9, “β-Farnesene”: 1.24 %.
  • Peak 10 (retention time 22.730), named “Prenyl isobutyrate” (RI 1054/1050): 0.97 %; the same name and the same RI appear at peak 3 of the same table: the identification is given two ways for two distinct peaks.
  • Peak 11, “β-Himachalene”: 7.67 %.
  • Peak 12, “alpha-Curcumene”: 19.00 %.
  • Peak 13, “Prenyl cyclopentanone”: 1.08 %.
  • Peak 14, “Piperitenone oxide”: 1.52 %.
  • Peak 15, “curcumene”, a line distinct from peak 12, with no isomer named: 1.08 %.
  • Peak 16, “Spathulenol”: 2.15 %.
  • Peak 17, “Globulol”: 0.95 %.
  • Peak 18 (retention time 27.481): 1.43 %; the line names it “Pinene” and gives it the formula “C10H16O”, as the table writes them.
  • Peak 19, “α-Santalene”: 1.43 %.
  • Peak 20, “α-Patchoulene”: 1.21 %.
  • Peak 21, “Bisabolene”, with no isomer named: 1.21 %.
  • Peak 22, “Eicosane”: 3.09 %.
  • Peak 23, “Methyl linoleate”: 1.37 %.
  • Peak 24, “Tetradecanal”: 2.69 %.
  • Peak 25, “Triacontane”: 3.74 %.
  • Peak 26, “Bisabolone oxide”, with no isomer named: 1.17 %.

How was the German chamomile studied by Yadav et al. (2022) grown?

According to Yadav et al. (2022), a diploid population “IHMC203P” of German chamomile of Indian origin (“of Indian origin”), whose capitula they distilled, was grown during the winter season (November to April 2020) at the experimental farm of the Agrotechnology Division, CSIR Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, Palampur, Himachal Pradesh (India). The experimental site lies at 32°6′25″ N, 76°33′30″ E, 1300 m above mean sea level, under a humid sub-temperate climate (“humid sub-temperate”) with high mean annual rainfall (∼2500 mm). During the crop season (November to April 2020), total rainfall was 802 mm, the average weekly temperature ranged between 2 and 34 °C, and relative humidity from 46 to 81 %. The soil of the site was an acidic silty clay loam (“acidic-silty clay loam”) with a pH of 5.23 to 6.10 and 1.40 to 2.01 % available carbon (“available carbon”). Chemical characterisation, like floral characterisation and development, was studied on the main plot grown under open field conditions (“open field conditions”), where three manual weedings and nine flood irrigations (“flood irrigations”) were applied. In this trial, the crop received 15 t ha−1 of well-decomposed farmyard manure before field preparation, then 100:60:40 kg NPK ha−1: one third of the nitrogen (“1/3rd N”) with all the P and K as a basal dose before sowing, the remaining nitrogen in equal parts during vegetative growth and at flowering initiation. Flowering began 112 days after sowing, and the capitulum harvest stage was reached “from 131 to 157 days”, during the full flowering flush stage (“full flowering flush stage”).

How was the capitula oil of Yadav et al. (2022) obtained?

The essential oil was extracted from fresh capitula (“fresh capitula”) collected at three stages: pre-blossom (“pre-blossom (before anthesis)”), full blossom (“full blossom (during anthesis)”) and end of blossom (“end of blossom (post anthesis)”). The capitula were harvested from 1 m × 1 m subplots marked within the main plot, avoiding border plants, in three replications per treatment, taking care not to pick capitula of a stage other than the one targeted. The “full blossom” stage of Table 3 combines stages RS-4 and RS-5; RS-4 (“Anthesis starting point”) is identified as the start of anthesis, and RS-5 (“Anthesis flushes”) is, according to the authors, the longest phase (10 days). The oils were obtained immediately after capitulum harvest. They were obtained by hydrodistillation in a Clevenger apparatus (“under optimal operating conditions”): about fifty grams of capitula (“About fifty-gram capitula”) of one of the three stages in 1000 ml of distilled water, in a 2 L round-bottom flask placed in a heating mantle connected to tap water for condensation, for 6 h. Each sample yielded a blue-coloured organic phase (the essential oil) and an aqueous phase (aromatic water) denser than the oil, the source writing “a blue-coloured organic phase (essential oil) with a characteristic fruity fragrance aqueous phase (aromatic water) denser than oil”; experiments were conducted three times per condition. The separated oil was dissolved in dichloromethane (10 ml), filtered, dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate, then used for GC–MS analysis.

What oil content did Yadav et al. (2022) record?

The content in percent was calculated on the oven-dried mass remaining in the flask (“based on the oven-dried mass remained in the flask”). According to the authors, the blue essential oil content “recorded highest” was 0.40 %, at the “full blossom” stage of the capitula.

How was the Yadav et al. oil analysed?

The concentrated extracts were analysed on a GCMS-QP2010 system (Shimadzu Corporation, Japan) with an SH-RX-5Si/MS fused-silica capillary column (30 m × 0.25 mm × 0.25 µm film thickness), with nitrogen as carrier gas at 1 ml/min. The injector was at 250 ℃ and the injection volume 2 µl; the oven was programmed “to hold at 70 ℃ for 3.0 min and then increase to 4 ℃ to 220 ℃ for 5.0 min, respectively”; the ion source was at 200 ℃, the interface at 250 ℃, and the electron energy is given as “0.85 eV”. Retention indices (RI) were determined against a mixture of n-alkanes (C9–C24), and compounds were characterised by comparing their spectra with those of MS libraries such as the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) database.

What does Table 3 of Yadav et al. (2022) give for the full-blossom oil?

For the blue essential oil from fresh capitula at the “full blossom” stage (RS-4 and -5), the “Full blossom (%)” column of Table 3 gives the following values, with line, retention time and retention index as the table writes them.

  • Line 2, “Artemisia ketone” (8.918; 1059): 0.48 ± 0.01.
  • Line 3, “Camphor” (12.068; 1150): 0.18 ± 0.01.
  • Line 5, “Beta-Farnesene” (22.693; 1452): 2.68 ± 0.39.
  • Line 6, “Germacrene D” (23.689; 1481): 0.53 ± 0.01.
  • Line 7, “Bicyclogermacrene” (24.162; 1495): 0.29 ± 0.00.
  • Line 9, “Bisabolol oxide B < α- >” (29.071; 1655): 3.53 ± 0.33.
  • Line 10, “Phloroacetophenone < 2,4-dimethylether- >” (29.371; 1665): 1.67 ± 0.01.
  • Line 11, “Bisabolone oxide A < α- >” (29.848; 1681): 7.67 ± 1.01.
  • Line 12, “Bisabolol < α- >” (29.952; 1684): 1.46 ± 0.00.
  • Line 13, “Chamazulene” (31.271; 1733): 0.64 ± 0.06.
  • Line 14, “Bisabolol oxide A” (31.897; 1757): 62.32 ± 0.83.
  • Line 15, “En-in-dicycloether” (35.406; 1882): 17.00 ± 1.62.
  • Line 16, “En-in-dicycloether”, the same name as line 15 (35.655; 1890): 0.81 ± 0.06; the two lines are given separately and are not added together here.
  • Line 17, “1,4-Naphthalenedione, 2-hydroxy-3-(1-propenyl)” (37.230; 1942): 0.30 ± 0.00.

Which ISO standards does the ISO catalogue list for this oil?

According to the ISO catalogue for ICS class 71.100.60, the standard ISO 19332:2020 exists under the title “Essential oil of matricaria [Matricaria chamomilla L. syn. Chamomilla recutita (L.) Rauschert]” and is at stage “90.93”. In the same catalogue, the standard ISO 19332:2007, titled “Oil of blue chamomile (Chamomilla recutita (L.) Rauschert syn. Matricaria chamomilla auct.)”, is marked “Withdrawn”, at stage “95.99”.

References