There are many plants known as Camomiles, and on this website we also describe Roman Camomile and Scented Mayweed. But you will read here about Dyer’s Camomile, Anthemis tinctoria, its useful properties and place in folklore.
This plant originated as a wild flower in southern, central and eastern Europe and the near East. However, it has long been cultivated in Britain as a dye plant. There are many sub-species, hybrids and garden varieties, and other common names are Golden Marguerite, Yellow Camomile and Golden Camomile. It is a bushy plant with masses of long-lasting, yellow daisy-like flowers above its pleasantly scented dark green leaves. Although classed as a perennial, it tends to go leggy and die after a couple of years so, as it is grown easily from seed, it’s probably better treated as an annual. Drought-tolerant and a magnet for bees and butterflies, it is an attractive addition to a cottage garden or herbaceous border. Weld, (Reseda luteola), also known as dyer’s weed, had been traditionally used in Britain to create yellow dyes, but the arrival of dyer’s camomile brought further choices of hue. [See more about Weld elsewhere on this website]
Camomile or Chamomile?
Twinings the tea company says that there was no H in the English spelling in the Middle Ages, and that the H spelling comes from its Greek name khamaimēlon. However, that bastion of traditional British gardening, the Royal Horticultural Society, spells it with the H; but Wikipedia states that the H version is American English. So what does the definitive English dictionary, the Oxford English Dictionary, say? Camomile without an H. But the OED hedges its bets by giving the derivations: ”Middle English: from Old French camomille, from late Latin chamomilla, from Greek khamaimēlon ‘earth-apple’ (because of the apple-like smell of its flowers).” So, the choice is yours!
Medicinal Uses
The reference book A Modern Herbal by Mrs Grieve, published in the 1930s, mentions Dyer’s Camomile. Her book is quoted widely on this plant’s medicinal properties – anti-spasmodic, emetic, and useful in treating of piles. However, this is based on a one-line footnote to her description of the Mayweed or Stinking Camomile (Anthemis cotula), where she says Anthemis tinctoria has similar properties and yields a yellow dye.
I have not been able to find any other reputable reference to medicinal uses of this specific plant; and it may be that the common name Camomile, used for so many quite unrelated plants, has produced this confusion.
Dyeing
The leaves can be used to create a light green dye, but it is the flowers that produce the range of yellow shades that can be used on any natural fabric, though apparently they work better on wool or silk, rather than cotton. From palest yellow through gold to near-khaki, depending on the dyer’s use of additives, the colour palette is wide.
The flowers once harvested (see image) can be used immediately or left to dry, and the warm yellows they produce are a useful complement to the lemon yellows obtained from weld. This is also an asset when over-dyeing, producing different shades of green and orange. 
Myth and Magic
Sadly, the craft / skill / art / science of dyeing has not been sufficiently valued in history to become associated with myth or magic, except in the sense that turning something from one colour to another is in itself a magical-seeming activity.
Unlike spinning, weaving and needlework, dyeing doesn’t seem to be suitable for the attention of gods and goddesses, wizards and witches. There are deities associated with the spinning and weaving of life-lines in all cultures: the Ancient Greeks had The Fates; the Norse peoples had The Norns; North American native peoples had Grandmother Spider; in Chinese mythology the weaver goddess created the stars of the Milky Way; and the Ancient Egyptian goddess of weaving was also known for her wisdom. Think of the legend of Arachne – such a skilful weaver that she brought the wrath of the jealous goddess Athena upon her – but how many people know that she was the daughter of a dyer?
Perhaps it’s to do with the actual process, which in ancient times would have involved messing about with lots of water and smelly, even hazardous, chemicals, like urine and lime. Some dyes have always carried a premium: for example, only Roman Emperors could wear purple. And there are of course many cultural associations throughout history with other specific colours – but not, apparently, with how they are produced.
Acknowledgements – thanks to the following for much of the plant information above
www.wildflowerfinder.org.uk
www.wildcolours.co.uk
www.naturesrainbow.co.uk – thanks also for the image of harvested flowers
www.pfaf.org
www.rhs.org
www.whitedragon.org.uk
www.botanical.com – the main source for A Modern Herbal which is quoted by many sites
