{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/eu-regulation-2012-165/annex-II/division-SUMMARY/division-4/division-4.6/division-2",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/eu-regulation-2012-165/annex-II/division-SUMMARY/division-4/division-4.6/division-2.json",
  "legislation": "eur/2012/165",
  "legislation_title": "Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 165/2012 of 24 February 2012 entering a name in the register of protected designations of origin and protected geographical indications (Alföldi kamillavirágzat (PDO))",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/eu-regulation-2012-165",
  "path": "annex/II/division/SUMMARY/division/4/division/4.6/division/2",
  "kind": "division",
  "number": null,
  "heading": "Geographical link",
  "text": "The development of gathering, processing and sale of wild camomile is a valuable model example for the regional use of flora. The ‘Alföldi kamillavirágzat’ owes its unique characteristics (see 4.2) to the ecological features of the habitat, that is the soil, the number of hours of sunshine and annual precipitation.\nFirst-class produce can be obtained from plants growing on the Great Hungarian Plain’s saline Puszta that can hardly be used for any other purpose, but is rich in sunshine. Matricaria chamomilla, the basic material of ‘Alföldi kamillavirágzat’, is able to accumulate 10 mg/g of sodium salts in its root cells. This explains why it is able to utilise moisture on the saline soils of the Great Plain that cannot be used by other plants.\nThe number of hours of sunshine in the Great Plain varies between 2 000 and 2 100 a year, with an annual precipitation of around 500 to 600 mm. The high level of sunshine allows for an increased level of active agent accumulation while weather with less sunshine reduces the accumulation of active agents. Foreign research has also confirmed that high sunshine levels and heat (the main climatic features of the Great Plain area) have a beneficial effect on and influence the composition of the essential oil content of camomile (Saleh, 1973). Research results have also proven that lower precipitation levels lead to a reduction in the plant height and flower size of camomile (Gosztola et al., 2008). Also, alkaline and saline soils lead to diminished growth (Sztefanov et al., 2003; Balak et al., 1999). Numerous research projects conducted in Hungary into natural, wild-growing camomile have revealed that there is a sharp differentiation between the camomile populations of the Transdanubia and Great Plain areas in terms of morphology and content. Wild-growing camomile from areas with neutral or slightly acidy soils is of more robust growth and has larger flowers but its essential oil has a lower α-bisabolol content, while camomile picked in the more continental, saline areas of the Great Plain is smaller in growth, has a compact flower, but its essential oil contains a large amount of the valuable, antispasmodic and anti-inflammatory α-bisabolol, the main component of the essential oil. This reaches 20 % in any event, but may be as high as 45-58 % depending on the year (Gosztola et al., 2005; Sztefanov et al., 2003).\nIt can be established from the link between the product and the geographical environment of the Great Hungarian Plain — examined with respect to climate and soil — that the basic material of ‘Alföldi kamillavirágzat’ consists of the low-growing camomile plant high in α-bisabolol, which grows exclusively in habitats of the Great Plain with the ecological conditions mentioned above.",
  "extent": "E+W+S+N.I.",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2012/165/annex/II/division/SUMMARY/division/4/division/4.6/division/2",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-11-01T14:49:35.106051+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}