Yarrow

Achillea millefolium

Asteraceae

Achilles' woundwort — a bitter, aromatic styptic for fevers, cuts, and heavy moons.

Common wild and garden herb.

Parts used: Aerial parts · Leaf
Traditional notes: Feverish cold with dry skin · Minor bleeding · Heavy menstrual flow · Bitter before fatty meals
Grow · USDA 6b: Perennial, USDA 3–9 Division is easiest. Seed needs light. In work: May · Jun · Jul · Aug
Harvest: Tops in full flower. Leaves any time.

Starve it. Rich soil makes floppy, pale yarrow.
Cut the flowering stems for tea as they open; a second flush follows.
Divide every few years or the clump dies out in the center.

Safety

Pregnancy Asteraceae allergy

Companions

Plant with Anise hyssop, Apple, Bee balm, Blueberry, Borage, Calendula.

Lookalikes

Poison hemlock — Achillea is a flat, ferny aster, not an umbel. People still call any white roadside head ‘yarrow’ — and some of those heads are hemlock.

Lore

Achilles staunched wounds with it, hence Achillea. English names include soldier’s woundwort and nosebleed. The feathery leaf is a battlefield plant that later settled into a bitter digestive tea for villages that had run out of wars.

The Herbarium — a teaching catalog, not a clinic. Traditional use is history, not a prescription. USDA 6b dates are a week either way, not a promise. Do not eat, drink, or harvest a plant you cannot name.