A friend of mine sent this picture to me and is calling it chamomile. I keep telling her that is not what this is as I have never seen chamomile look like this. She says that it never really gets the white flowers, just the green part in the middle.
I worry about her harvesting this and using it as chamomile without knowing what exactly this is. She lives in Upper Michigan and apparently it grows wild in her yard where there is high traffic.

Any help would be appreciated. It is of course possible that she is right and I am wrong. But, through all my searches on line I have yet to come across this plant.

http://s115.photobucket.com/albums/n295/ladyalpha_01/?action=view&current=chamomile.jpg

It certainly isn't chamomile. nono

Do you have any botanical or nurseries nearby? And have you checked the native plants of your state on line?

Strange looking-it is. Please let us know what it turns out to be, if someone here doesn't have th answer.

Blessings Bright and Dark,

Thank you Lady Elaine. I thought perhaps I was just crazy since she kept insisting. lol
I did try to do a websearch on her native plants but I didn't come up with anything. I may have to use a different search engine though and see if it gives me better luck.

I just really don't want her picking this stuff and using it as she would chamomile and get sick. I am glad that she sent me a pictures of it though. I was arguing with her on the phone and she kept describing it over and over, trying to get me to change my stance. lol (She and I have been friends for 16 years so we can do that with each other without hard feelings).

Links I have found that might help:

http://web1.msue.msu.edu/msue/iac/e1363/e1363.htm

I would contact this link with the picture:

http://www.lsa.umich.edu/mbg/

And this one might help as well:

http://www.chicagobotanic.org/school/faculty

Good luck!

Blessings Bright and Dark,

Thank you for those links. I sent an e-mail to the University, hopefully they will contact me back soon.

Ok, I talked to her and we did more searching. We found out it is called pineapple weed and is a type of chamomile. So she was right when she called it chamomile. It is a cousin to german/roman chamomile and can be used the same as those types of chamomile.
It is considered a weed because it will spread like wildfire and of course most people don't consider anything that doesn't look like a rose or daisy as anything other than a pesty weed.

A link to it and some information is: http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/WEEDS/pineapple_weed.html
(In case anyone would like to learn a little more about it).

Woot! My alma mater saves the day! Go Cal Ags!

Well the University that I first contacted contacted me back and gave me this information:

Thanks for the query.

Short answer: its NOT the European "chamomile" used in tea. Thank
goodness your friend has you being worried for her! (Keep reading)

Long answer: What your friend seems to have is Matricaira discoidea,
also known as "pineapple weed", which is introduced to our region from
further west. At present "chamomile" as in the traditional aromatic tea
is now put in the genus Anthemis as Anthemis nobilis. The two are not
the same!

Longer answer: Have your friend go to a library for Moreman's Native
American Ethnobotany (Timber Press, 1998). There she can find (page
337)
how different First Nations used Matricaria discoidea - let's see
(random order):
Infant convulsions
Fever
Diarrhea
Menstrual cramps
Insect repellant

Clearly, this is not something to tinker with under mistaken identity
just because of the general flower shape, foliage dissection, and
overall "herbal" scent. I'd suggest your friend take some plant
identification classes - perhaps as part of a summer program. The
health
she saves may be hers.

Best, David

So, two different opinions of if you should use it as a tea or not. I forwarded the information to her so she can make her own judgement call for herself. I am of the mindset of use it to make a nice pouperie (spelt wrong..can't seem to spell that tonight) and leave it at that. Use regular german or roman as tea.

Cool, Lady Alpha, I am delighted they got back with you so soon!

Good info they gave you as well. I might even be tempted to pick up the book theymentioned, it sounds like one I would like to have in my library! Thank you for sharing the info you found out with us, and your friend is indeed very lucky to have you there looking out for her!

Blessings Bright and Dark,

I was very surprised they got back to me so quickly. Usually you have to wait at least a day if not a week to hear back from general e-mail contact forms.
I am going to look for that book also. I have herbal books but I don't think you can have enough of them. She has a good one too, just as she and I were discussing, sometimes it is easy to be mistaken even with a book in front of you. You really have to be careful and know for a fact before using something.

I was also very concerned as she planned on having her son use this as a tea. So I am going to call her and make sure that she got my e-mail. She works all the time so she may not have.

Again, thank you very much for the link to them. I doubt I would have found them.
Blessings,
ladyalpha

we have that in quebec, it dont make flower, juste yellow bud like in the picture.

I used to gather this wild up in WA state for magical purposes*.  It isn't as strong as "normal" chamomile and you have to have a lot more of it than you would the other, but it is effective.  It has the same sort of smell, a little sweeter, perhaps.  I haven't seen it here on this planet (TX).

*I've never used it internally, so I do not know of it's safety.