Sherlock, you might have better luck with your question on the Edible Landscape forum, as pineapple weed is not native. Kind of a shame, I do think it's cute and it sure is fun to pick some and smell it. I was not actually aware that it makes a good tea, I'll have to try it now.

As far as growing in a pot, have you tried to duplicate it's normal growing conditions? The only place I've ever seen it is by the side of the road, where the old cracked blacktop bits and gravel blends into the "grass," sometimes mowed and occasionally smashed down by a passing car. So don't be too nice to it! Use lots of gravel, maybe add some lime, maybe even likes a little salt?

Gee, I should have read more before I posted--maybe it's not native, maybe it is! I'd read in the past it's Asian. The USDA site (the one I always use first)says Introduced, but with some question marks; others just say the nativity is unclear--either Asia or Pacific NW. The Illinois Wildflower site says it may have been introduced by the Amerindians when they crossed over to this continent from Asia. That makes it long before European settlement, and so "native" by many people's standard!

After reading more about it, I definitely want to try some. I'll be scouting the roadside soon!

Here is a link that might be useful: IL Wildflowers

Just wanted everyone to know that the pineapple weed is a dominate weed and does not tolerate taller weeds or plants. I have selectively weeded my yard to allow the pineapples to live and killed the other weeds which used to dominate my yard completely. This last month as the new crop of weeds sprouted, to my amazement, my entire yard is now nothing but pineapple weeds and only one small 4' x 4' area is tall raspy ugly weeds. Interesting that these pineapple weeds have found their way around my entire front yard somehow even though I have killed other weeds in those areas previous season. I am going to plant some on my hard to reach hillside and kill off those ugly weeds and hopefully, if all goes well, I will have a new hillside next year with mostly pineapple weeds that I won't have to deal with and they smell so wonderful in the warm morning sun..sweet smelling. Also, my dogs are unusually attracted to them and spend the mornings grazing...eating only the yellow buds. It is difficult to pull them away from their grazing.

I successfully collected pineappleweed seeds by uprooting a pineappleweed plant and planting it in a small container. It lived a while, then died. I put the pot in my basement and did not remove the plant. I left it and did not water all winter. The following spring I took the plant up and discarded the dead plant, watered the soil thoroughly and was delighted to see dozens of sprouts in the coming days, which I thinned out as they grew. I've heard you can take a plant and place it upside down in a paper bag where it will die and the seeds will fall off into the bag. I wanted pineappleweed in a pot so it didn't take over the yard. The tea is lovely and I prefer it to chamomile.

The most informative site I have found is: www.tropicalpermaculture.com on growing pineapples. Very interesting. From what I gather, the fruit itself is the seed, it just reproduces.

Ah, common names. Gotta love them. Pineapple weed is Matricaria discoidea. Pineapple is Ananas comosus. Vastly different plants. One grows in my driveway and the other grows in Hawaii.

FataMorgana

I've got in in my driveway. Pretty common here in the PNW. Have always loved the smell.

I just found lots of this growing around my house, It grows in very dry soil in the high desert CA . I will try to pot some with the same soil type and not water it much.

See if I can harvest it and make tea.

www.EppsUrbanHomestead.com

dbs_illinois_4--LOL, then Illinois needs to update their info. It's been proven we didn't migrate here from Asia, and that our DNA is unique, occurring only here and Eastern Siberia, meaning that most likely, we crossed over there when the land bridge occurred, and likely left some DNA there, as village sites here date to pre-Land Bridge.

https://www.localharvest.org/pineapple-weed-seeds-false-chamomile-C17088