Yarrow, 'Achillea Millefolium'
- Gwendolyn Smithuis
- Jul 9, 2021
- 1 min read
Achillea Millefolium (C.Linnaeus) or 'Duizendblad' (dutch)
Milfoil, thousand seal and nosebleed, these are also populary used names for this versatile herb.
Hundreds of species belong to this genus in various colors.
It is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae.
Yarrow grows wild throughout the world.
It requires full sun, regular soil, and moderate watering. Traveling through Europe where the plant originates from, you see them very generally along the highway, because common Yarrow has good resistance to exhaust fumes.
The corolla is usually white, but pink flowers are also sometimes present. The dark green pinnate leaves are reminiscent of ferns and are not useful for medicinal purposes, its flat flowers or umbels
'Millefolium'(a thousand leaves) have been used for centuries in typical women's ailments such as painful contractions of the uterine wall and should there fore not be taken by pregnant women!
Did you know..
That the young leaves give a crisp accent to salads and soups and that they were used as a beer herb before the flowers of the female hop buds were used for this purpose? And you got extra drunk off this beer? And the name Achillea refers to the Greek hero Achilles, the bravest of all the Greek warriors? Legend says that Achilles soldiers used yarrow to treat their wounds, the plant is also called woundwort.
In the middle ages, Yarrow was indeed used to stop bleeding but the effect is minimal.
I mainly use Yarrow in dry Bouquets and Flowerarrangments because both the stems and flowers dry nicely and will remain beautiful in shape and structure for at least a year.
