Yarrow (Achillia millefolium)

millefolium means thousand leaved (Wood, 1997) (Buhner, 1998)

Family: Asteraceae

AKA:

• Woundwort
• Known to Romans as Herba militari (Wood, 1997) (Kynes, 2016)
• Solider’s wort (Wood, 1997)
• Carpenter’s weed (Wood, 1997)
• Milfoil, nosebleed (Tierra, 1998) (Kynes, 2016)
• Yarroway (Naegele, 1980)
• Noble Yarrow (Mercatante, 1976)
• Thousand Leaf (Mercatante, 1976) (Kynes, 2016)
• Lady’s Mantle (Mercatante, 1976)
• Bloodwort (Kynes, 2016)
• Devil’s Nettle, comes from the belief that this plant was dedicated to Satan (Kynes, 2016)

Description

• Flower-heads with 5 petal like rays, in flat top clusters. Leaves long and narrow, woolly, aromatic. 1-3 ft high
• Flowers June-Sept (Peterson, 1977) (Naegele, 1980) (Smith, 1979)
• Found on roadsides, fields (Peterson, 1977) (Naegele, 1980)
• Leaves: alternate, pinnately compound, finely dissected, feather-like, 10-20 cm, green, aromatic (Naegele, 1980)
• Flower type: white, ray flowers, in flat top corycomb which is 5-15 cm across summer-fall (Naegele, 1980)
• Root is a taproot (Naegele, 1980)
• Creeping underground root-stock (Smith, 1979)
• Flowering stems usually simple below flowers, glabrous or cobwebby (covered with entangled hairs (Smith, 1979)

Actions:

• Bitter, pungent
• Cold, dry
• diaphoretic
• emmenagogue

use when

• Hot, dry, and constricted skin
• Restlessness, wakefulness, delirium
• Pulse full rapid and nonresistant

History

• Found in Neanderthal’s graves (Gregg, 2014) 60,000 years ago in Iraq (Buhner, 1998)
• Widely used and known herb
• Used extensively in brewing in Europe and Scandinavia, known as jordhumle or earth hop (Buhner, 1998)

Medicine

• a cold and flu tea recipe (old gypsy formula) (Gladstar, 2008)
  • yarrow, peppermint, and elder

• mensteal cramp relief formula (Gladstar, 2008) (Naegele, 1980)
  • 1 part each crampbark, pennyroyal leaf, yarrow. Peppermint to taste (Gladstar, 2008)

• Cold and flu
  • Equal parts elder-flower, lemon balm yarrow and mint as tea (Tierra, 1998)

Parts used

• Young leaves in the spring for the juices (Wood, 1997)
• Stalks and mature leaves NOT used in medicines (Wood, 1997)
• Flower tops

Magic

•  Diving sticks made from stalks for the I Ching (Wood, 1997) (Kynes, 2016) (Riotte, 1975)
  • Keep with your amethyst to heighten their inner energies
• Used in spells and charms and strewn across doorways to keep witches from entering households
• Carry yarrow for protection from accidents (Wood, 1997)
• Correspondences
  • with the winter solstice, December 20-23 (Gregg, 2014),
  • Zodiac, Cancer, Gemini
  • Aphrodite, Hermes, the Horned God and the hero Achilles
  • associated with Air and Water
  • associated with Venus and sometimes Jupiter
  • Ace of Wands
• Add yarrow tea to bath to deepen your spiritual connection and expand you psychic awareness (Gregg, 2014)
• Can heal spirit wounded by anger (Harding, 2008)
• Engenders fidelity and longevity to marriage, leading to happiness and well-being  (Kynes, 2016)

Garden

• Added to compost pile (Riotte, 1975)
• Good in paths and borders, doesn’t mind getting walked on (Riotte, 1975)
• Enhances the growth of essential oils in herbs (Riotte, 1975)