
Matricaria discoidea.Copyright © 2014 Glen Mittelhauser.New England Wild Flower Society.gobotany.newenglandwild.org. (Accessed 11/2014).
Matricaria matricarioides is an annual herb, 5-40 cm tall, mostly about 15 cm, pineapple-aromatic scented, freely branched, leafy, from a taproot.
Leaves alternate, mostly stalkless, blade 1-3 times pinnate, 1-6 cm long, 0.5-2 cm wide, finely 1-3 times pinnately dissected, fern-like, ultimate segments finely linear.
Flowers in heads, yellow, corollas 4-toothed, 0.1 cm long, all disks (rayless); in oval heads 0.5-0.9 cm wide, floral base (receptacle) cone-shaped, surface smooth (no scales between disk flowers), basal bracts in two rows, borders broad, membranous; blooms May-Sept. Self-fertile (autogamous), (Mulligan and Kevan 1973);
Fruit dry 1-seeded achene, 0.1 cm long, 2-ribbed, oblong, with a short crown (pappus) or none (Radford et al. 1968; Yatskievych 2006).
Wetland status: FACU.
Frequency in NYC: Occasional.
Origin: Russia, N.E Asia (Fern 2004).
Habitat: Open, dry disturbed areas, roadsides, fill.
Notes: Winter plant tan, flower bases conical, surrounded by open bracts of head (Levine 1995). Flowers apparently edible. Plant also has been used as a medicinal and insect repellent, however it sometimes causes allergic reactions (Fern 2004).