I thought this was going to be G. Chamomile but it's not...?

[applestar]

When these volunteers bloomed, the flowers turned out to look completely different -- petals are too big/long, center isn't domed, and no apple/chamomile fragrance.



The leaves smell like a mum or maybe daisy.

Is this something else? ...or did the German chamomile that grew here for two years, reseeding on their own, cross with something else?

[cynthia_h]

Well, they certainly look like some plants sold out here as chamomile (looking at the leaves especially, but in combination w/the flowers). Sorry that I can't remember the variety tonight....

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

[skiingjeff]

They look like the chamomile I planted but mine haven't flowered yet - German Chamomile "Matricaria Recutita".

They can be pretty invasive so I have them in pots and will pick the flowers for tea once they bloom like yours

[RamonaGS]

Looks like the marguerite daisies my mom grew, the leaves are even right for them too. They are smaller than regular daisies, shorter petals, but about the same centers, and they do look a bit like chamomile, but larger in size. You said they smell like daisies? Could you have ended up with daisies in your garden from somewhere?

I had a surprise one year when I found snap dragons growing under my water spigot, and I have no idea where they came from. I had not grown any in the garden, nor had any in a bouquet I had discarded, but there were 3 different colors of them growing right there, under my spigot. One of those mysteries of the universe, like the sasquatch, Locke Ness Monster, where your other sock disappears to in the laundry....where do volunteer flowers come from in your garden, LOL!

[watermelonpunch]

Marguerite daisies, yes, they look like that to me too. The flowers, and the leaves.

However, I have seen a wide variety of appearance of marguerite daisies.

I've seen both ox eye and marguerites used interchangeably... and I'm not quite sure if that's right.
Or if maybe different kinds have been cultivated, where the stems/leaves look different. I don't know.
Some marguerites have shorter petals with larger more bulging centers.

One thing though... I know that chamomile the daisy flower petals are more leaning toward being more like daisy fleabane. Except the flowers themselves are larger, and especially the centers.

I can't tell if that's the case from the pic in the OP, because you'd have to have a close-up of the petal...
But I would describe daisy fleabane as having a more hairy kind of petal, not at all like a shasta daisy, for example.

Anyway, things crop up easily... if you get plants from someone else's garden, the soil could have something else in it.
My MIL gave me another pulmonaria this year. When I transplanted into my flowerbed, there was nothing but pulmonaria, and not even a lot of soil with it. But there must've been spores, because I wound up having fern fiddleheads appear all round the pulmonaria about 2 weeks later.
Ironically, pulmonaria is now one of my favourite plants, and my MIL actually gave me a baby one by mistake when giving me a hosta last year! I found it at the base when I was planting the hosta... and immediately loved the spotty little leaves.

When I used to just have pots on a porch, occasionally I'd have something odd crop up in an annual planted in potting soil on a 3rd floor porch. Seeds can really travel given a good wind!!

[rainbowgardener]

I'm growing German (annual) chamomile and it is blooming with the tiny domed flowers you would expect. The leaves don't have any particular scent, but when I rub the flowers lightly, they are strongly scented apple/chamomile. The leaves are more delicate than yours too. So I'm thinking you have some kind of daisy there.

Incidentally, I went to look at mine to confirm, and discovered the two on the deck both have a lot of ants and some aphids on them... sigh... Must be something they like, because nothing else on the deck has them.