the florets tend to curve downwards around the edges and may occasionally have pistils, although these do not produce fruit. Beneath the flower proper, oval bracts of the plant form an involucre, with soft hairs on each; further bracts are bristled and sit at right angles to the flowers. Fruits The fruits are achenes (with no pappus). They are wrinkled, ribbed with ten ridges, and have small glandular bumps across the surface. Toxicity Anthemis cotula is potentially toxic to dogs, cats, horses, and guinea pigs. Clinical signs include contact dermatitis, vomiting, diarrhea, anorexia, allergic reactions. Long term use can lead to bleeding tendencies. The foliage may also cause skin irritation. Distribution Native Pale-arctic Macaronesia: Azores, Canary Islands, Madeira Southern Africa: Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia Eurasia: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, Russia, Georgia, India, North Caucasus, Dagestan, Cyprus, Iran, Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey Eastern Europe: Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Crimea, Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria Northern Europe: Denmark, Norway, Sweden, England, Scotland, Finland Central Europe: Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Switzerland Southern Europe: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Crete, Italy, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Sicily, Slovenia, Sardinia, Corsica, Portugal, Spain, Balearic Islands Western Europe: Belgium, Netherlands, France, Ireland, United Kingdom Introduced Naturalized in Americas, Southern Africa, and Oceania Spread to United States Johnny Appleseed planted stinking chamomile, here called dog-fennel, during his travels in the early 19th century, believing it to be an antimalarial. Dog-fennel already had a reputation for being an aggressive invasive, however, so Appleseed's practice invited controversy. Harper's New Monthly Magazine in 1871 gave Appleseed credit for the overabundance of dogfennel:The consequence was that successive, flourishing crops of the weed spread over the whole country and caused almost as much trouble as the disease it was intended to ward off; and to this day the dog-fennel, introduced by Johnny Appleseed, is one of the worst grievances of the Ohio farmers. References External links (1917): Wild Flowers Worth Knowing. HTML or TXT fulltext at Project Gutenberg cotula Flora of Europe Flora of Macaronesia Flora of North Africa Flora of Western Asia Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus