Printed from smellbook.com/smells/chamomile. This printout keeps the entry for Chamomile itself: its description, reference card, Connections, questions, evidence, related smells, record details, states, names and citation. It leaves out your own notes, the map, the lists of paths, routes, stories and fragrance directions, and the lists headed “Also linked to” (other entries that share its place or material) and “Linked from”; they are on the page online. The entries this one links to are still printed under Connections and Related smells.
Categories and types group entries for browsing; they are editorial, not evidence. How smells are grouped.
A soft herbal-floral smell with dry, apple-like and calming cultural associations.
Its type, Source, means the smell is named after “a physical origin that can contribute a smell”; it is not an evidence source, such as a study or a book. The origin page for Chamomile (the plant, not this smell entry) lists every smell recorded as coming from it.
Chamomile smells soft, herbal and lightly floral, with a dry, hay-like warmth and a gentle apple-like sweetness. EDITORIAL
Named in the VERIFIED claims about this smell: not a list of what it is made of, and not its cause.
Links SmellBook records for this entry: what it comes from, where you meet it, molecules, related smells and comparisons. EDITORIAL links are chosen by SmellBook editors and VERIFIED links come from VERIFIED claims. Nothing here is a ranking, and a molecule is not presented as the cause of the smell.
QUESTIONS ABOUT CHAMOMILE
Chamomile smells soft, herbal and lightly floral, with a dry, hay-like warmth and a gentle apple-like sweetness. Steeped in hot water the scent becomes rounder and more honeyed; dried flowers are sharper and dustier. Many people link it with calm and bedtime. It can be mistaken for hay or for mild honey.
Most people meet it as herbal tea, especially in the evening, when a bag or loose flowers are steeped. It also appears as dried flowers in jars and sachets, and in gardens or lawns where the low plants are crushed underfoot.
Typical settings: herbal tea, dried flower, garden.
SmellBook links it to one place page: see it in Connections.
One VERIFIED scientific claim from one published source is recorded for this entry: What chamomile oil is made of. This claim says only what its source supports, in the scope shown with it.
The scientific study behind this evidence is chemistry or emission work, not a study of how the smell is perceived.
2 molecules are named in this claim; see the evidence for the role the claim gives them. Each molecule this claim names has only the role the claim states.
Chamomile is presented as a sensory and cultural profile, not a health or therapeutic claim.
SmellBook records one written comparison with other smells: see it in Connections.
Words that are easy to mix up: How do green and herbal differ? and Where do floral and powdery meet?
No historical source or heritage record is linked to this entry yet.
Answers marked EDITORIAL are written by SmellBook editors to describe the experience and add no scientific fact. Answers marked VERIFIED point to claims on published sources, checked against each source's own summary where one was available (each claim's page says how); what each claim supports is in its own text and scope.
Scientific evidence · 1 claim
Essential oils of chamomile from several European countries had bisabolol oxide A, α-bisabolol, bisabolol oxide B, cis-enyne-bicycloether, bisabolone oxide A and chamazulene among their principal biologically active compounds, with bisabolol oxide A predominant in 8 of 13 samples.
Thirteen samples of the dried herb; composition varies with origin, and the study does not describe smell.
How this was found: Chemical composition. Compounds were identified or measured, without any assessment of their odour. Source: primary study; chemistry work.
Anne Orav, Ain Raal & Elmar Arak
DOI 10.1080/14786410802560690Each molecule is named by the claim shown after it. Each molecule named here has only the role the claim states. About molecules in SmellBook
Links chosen by SmellBook editors, not a ranking.
Associations can vary strongly by person, place and culture.
PATHS FROM HERE
Each step is a relationship SmellBook editors recorded in the knowledge graph, named as it is published there. Paths are not ranked or personalised, and they do not mean the smells smell alike.
MY SMELLBOOK · LOCAL ONLY
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MAP THIS SMELL
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WHERE THIS SMELL APPEARS
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IN FRAGRANCE & SPACES
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FOR RESEARCHERS AND EDITORS
Identity, revision history, corrections and how to cite Chamomile.
CULTURAL: This entry's associations depend on context, language, memory or culture; its description and smell words are editorial. It says nothing about research or historical evidence; evidence for this entry is shown separately: VERIFIED.
A state says how an entry is met, such as wet, aged or roasted. It does not create a new smell, and it adds no scientific fact by itself: states marked EDITORIAL come from the entry's own records, and only those marked VERIFIED are reported by a VERIFIED claim.
How this entry is identified and named, for citing it or matching it with other records.
SmellBook SB-0066 — Chamomilesmellbook:smell:chamomilehttps://smellbook.com/smells/chamomileSmellBook. (2026). Chamomile (revision 3, 2026-10-06). SmellBook Public Atlas. smellbook:smell:chamomile. https://smellbook.com/smells/chamomile@misc{smellbook_chamomile_r3,
author = {{SmellBook}},
title = {Chamomile},
year = {2026},
note = {SmellBook Public Atlas, revision 3, 2026-10-06, smellbook:smell:chamomile},
url = {https://smellbook.com/smells/chamomile}
}TY - ENCYC ID - smellbook-chamomile-r3 TI - Chamomile AU - SmellBook T2 - SmellBook Public Atlas PY - 2026 DA - 2026/10/06 ET - revision 3 UR - https://smellbook.com/smells/chamomile N1 - SB-0066; smellbook:smell:chamomile; resolver https://smellbook.com/id/smell/chamomile ER -
The citation names revision 3 of 2026-10-06, so a reader can tell exactly which version was cited. Citing records what was read; it does not grant a licence.
Chamomile is presented as a sensory and cultural profile, not a health or therapeutic claim.
Editorial description expanded to answer what it smells like and where you meet it; independently reviewed.
Created 2026-09-22 · Updated 2026-10-06Dataset history In the SmellBook dataset since the first of three dataset releases of 2026-09-30.
No correction notices published for this entry. Corrections policyEVIDENCE MATTERS
SmellBook separates cultural association, community perception, verified evidence, prediction and experimental relationships rather than presenting them as the same thing. Read the evidence guide ↗ See the evidence coverage report ↗