MATRICARIA (U. S. P.)—MATRICARIA. Chemical Composition

Chemical Composition.—In addition to the ordinary constituents of plants, matricaria contains a small portion of tannin and tannates, malates, bitter extractive, and a volatile oil. The latter, known as Oleum Chamomillæ Æthereum, may be obtained, by distillation in a suitable apparatus, in the quantity of 0.45 per cent (Schimmel & Co.). It has an aromatic, warm taste, and a pronounced odor of matricaria. It is thick, somewhat viscid, opaque in bulk, but in layers transparent, and has a rich, dark-blue color which, on exposure to air and light, gradually becomes green, and, lastly, brown. Its density is 0.93; its congealing point, —20° C. (—4° F.). It consists of a colorless oil having the composition C₁₀H₁₈O, and a terpene (C₁₀H₁₆). Azulene (of Piesse), or cærulein (of Gladstone), a volatile body said to be present in all blue or green oils, gives to it its blue coloration. It was investigated by Kachler (1871), and occurs only in the highest fractions of the oil. An Oleum Chamomillæ Citratum, sometimes met with, is prepared by adding oil of lemon (1 part) to recently gathered matricaria (480 parts), and distilling. It is thinner than the true oil, and its blue color changes more readily. Werner, in 1867, states to have obtained from Matricaria Chamomilla the crystallizable, bitter anthemic acid, isolated by Pattone (1859) from the flowers of Anthemis arvensis, Linné; and a crystallizable alkaloid, which he called anthemidine. Flückiger (1891) doubts the correctness of these results.