chamomile or feverfew?

[Farplace]

I have no idea!!! I cant tell them apart.

[Hedera]

That's Feverfew - wider, flatter ended petals; chamomile has thinner, more pointed petals.

[Farplace]

Thanks again..... I had been calling it feverfew, but i wasnt at all sure.

[Mele]

Chamomile is a bit of a catch-all term for a number of daisy herbs
Anthemis cotula; stinking chamomile,
Anthemis arvensis corn chamomile
Matricaria recutita; German/blue chamomile, the one herbalists use most commonly in tea
Chamaemelum nobile; Roman chamomile.....etc.
These (mayweedy) plants above all have thread-like leaves.
The leaves on your feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium) are a give away - they are more rounded and leaf-like, rather than thread-like. You don't need to wait for the flowers to be able to id it.
If in doubt with herbs I crush a leaf and smell them - I find that also helps fix plants in my memory! Yup - olfactory-id helps me out with many plants. The smell of feverfew is quite distinctive.
Have to say I find it jolly difficult to tell the 'mayweeds' apart......I need Dorts encapsulated into a walking, talking plant field guide......

[Dorts]

Hedera and Mel are spot-on. It is Feverfew - Tanacetum parthenium which is a pungently-aromatic plant. Grows up to 70cm, is a common plant of waste ground and as a garden 'weed'. Double forms are not uncommon.

Whereas Chamomile - Chamaemelum nobile is strongly scented and pleasantly aromatic, no more than 30cm, has a resemblance to Scentless Mayweed; but is uncommon and decreasing, except in the New Forest where it is only locally common on very short grazed turf.

I agree with Mel that the Mayweeds can be an awkward group to separate. I have thought that in the winter months when the Wild Flower Forum becomes quiet, I could put together some easy keys to such groups.
Dorts.