Scientific Name
Achillea Millefolium
Common Name
Common Yarrow, milfoil
Family
Asteraceae
Parts Used
Flowers, Leaves, Root
Native To
Europe, North America, Asia
Geographic Distribution
Just about anywhere in the northern hemisphere and has become invasive in some southern hemisphere locations. It can be found wild and domesticated (at your garden center). It can also be found at pretty much all elevations and habitats (wet, dry, rocky, grassy, open, forest, shorelines). It does prefer disturbed ground.
Botanical Description
Yarrow grows from spreading rhizomes and rises on sturdy stalks from 4-40 inches tall. The leaves are one of the key identifiers of this plant. They have a very feathery appearance, are lance shaped, and alternately arranged. As they climb the stalk they become smaller. The leaves are also very aromatic. Yarrow flowers from mid-spring to mid-autumn. The flowers form flat clumps or sprays of (usually) white flowers. Some varieties form yellow, pink, or reddish flowers. Like other members of the aster family, the flowers are composite. Before pollination, the disc flowers have tiny orange dots of pollen on their stamens. This is the prime time to harvest Yarrow.
Key Constituents
Some of the key constituents in yarrow are its volatile oils, flavonoids, tannins, and alkaloids. Yarrow’s volatile (aromatic) oils are soothing, assist with inflammation, are anti-microbial, and bitter. Flavonoids also assist with inflammation and smooth muscle spasms. Tannins are astringent - meaning that they tighten and tones tissues and have a cooling quality. Yarrow’s alkaloids reduce fevers and intestinal spasms, as well as stimulating the digestive system.
Harvesting Guidelines
Flower: For the most potent medicine, harvest flowers before pollination occurs. You can tell that pollination has not occurred by looking for the orange dots of pollen inside the disc flowers. It is still OK to make medicine with the flowers after pollination.
Leaf: Harvest a few stalks, then gently remove leaves. Leaves can be harvested throughout the growing season.
Root: Dig roots in early autumn before the ground is hard.
Medicinal & Food Uses
Herbal Actions
Astringent
Inflammation-modulating
Styptic
Antibacterial
Antiseptic
Analgesic
Vulnerary
Taste
Bitter
Energy
Cooling
Drying
Yarrow is one of THE BEST first-aid herbs to have in your medicine kit! It has truly miraculous styptic abilities. A styptic is something that stops bleeding. Yarrow has been known to aid in minor to very serious bleeding. It has also been used for both external wounds and internal bleeding. The fresh leaves can be applied directly to wounds or poulticed and then applied.
Yarrow is also a vulnerary (wound healing) herb. It has anti-microbial properties as well as being an astringent, which is a substance that tightens and draws together tissues to heal them. Yarrow also reduces inflammation (swelling) and the pain caused by the inflammatory response, and it encourages new skin cell growth.
Another action that yarrow is very famous for is treating fevers. As we know, fever is the body’s response to an invading pathogen. Your body is essentially trying to kill the pathogen by heating it up and driving it out. For that reason, we don’t want to be too hasty to reduce a fever, because the fever is helping us to fight the invader. Herbalists often divide herbs for fever into two groups - stimulant diaphoretics for the first stage of the fever (where we need warming) and relaxant diaphoretics for the second stage (where we need release of the heat and cooling). However, in the case of yarrow it is both stimulating and warming, while also relaxing and cooling! It can work intelligently in the body in this way helping to support the natural immune process to complete the fever process more efficiently. Unlike pharmaceutical fever reducers, it does not just break the fever prematurely so that the virus lingers.
Yarrow is also a bitter and that bitter taste stimulates the digestive system, as well as
a vasodilator, which is a substance that opens the blood vessels up and encourages better circulation of blood throughout the body. It does this through it’s ability to relax smooth muscle, which also includes the intestines, and can be used in cases of abdominal discomfort and spasms.
Finally, yarrow acts on the nervous system to promote restful sleep and relaxation.
Safety
Yarrow is generally a very safe herb. Some people who are allergic to flowers in the aster family may want to avoid it.
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