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Matricaria discoidea
Also called Pineapple mayweed, Pineapple weed, Pineappleweed, Rayless mayweed, Wild chamomile, Rayless Chamomile, False Chamomile
Disc mayweed is a low, annual wild herb in the daisy family, known for its button-like flower heads and a strong pineapple scent when crushed. It thrives in disturbed, poor, compacted soil along roadsides and footpaths.
Matricaria discoidea, commonly known as pineappleweed, wild chamomile, disc mayweed, and rayless mayweed, is an annual plant native to North America, northern Asia, and Europe where it grows as a common herb of fields, gardens, and roadsides. It is in the daisy family Asteraceae. When crushed, the flowers and foliage emit a strong pineapple-like aroma, giving the plant its common name.
The plant thrives in disturbed areas, especially those with poor, compacted soil. It often blooms along footpaths and roadsides in spring and early summer. It occurs across Canada and the United States, especially as a common weed in Alaska, the Yukon, and the Northwest Territories. However, there is disagreement over whether it originated in North America or in Siberia. This species has been introduced to Europe, Asia, Iceland, South America, and New Zealand and is now widespread and naturalized in Britain, where it has become one of the fastest-spreading plants of the 20th century.
The greens can be washed and eaten, and both the flowers and the whole plant can be steeped to make tea, described as "excellent" by one field guide. They have also been used in salads (although they may become bitter by the time the plant blooms). Extracts from the flowers and other aerial parts of the plant have been shown to possess non-toxic, pain-relieving, and mildly sedative effects, reflecting the biological activity concentrated in the floral tissues.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Matricaria discoidea by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
