Golden chamomile

Cota tinctoria (syn. Anthemis tinctoria), known as golden chamomile or dyer’s chamomile, is a short-lived perennial, often grown as a biennial, in the family Asteraceae. It reaches about 60 cm tall, forming bushy clumps of long, thin, angular stems clothed in aromatic, bright green, finely bi-pinnatifid leaves whose narrow segments are serrate and downy beneath. Throughout summer it produces a profusion of long-stalked, daisy-like flower heads 3–4 cm across, with a flat disc of yellow florets surrounded by golden-yellow ray florets; a white-flowered form is also known. Native to Europe, the Mediterranean and western Asia, it grows on dry, well-drained, calcareous soils of grasslands, banks, road verges and disturbed ground, and is naturalised in scattered parts of North America. The flowers yield an excellent range of yellow, buff and golden-orange dyes long used for wool and other fabrics, and the species is widely grown as a hardy ornamental.