Yarrow

Achillea millefolium

Also: Milfoil, Soldier's woundwort, Nosebleed plant

Warming and coolingDryingTonifying

Master of the blood: stops it outside, moves it inside.

Feathery, finely cut leaves and flat white flower heads on tough stems. Yarrow works on blood in two directions, stanching bleeding where it is applied and moving stagnant circulation when taken inside, and it opens the skin to break a fever.

Energetics: Warming and cooling, drying, tonifying
Taste: Bitter, pungent, aromatic
Family: Asteraceae (daisy family)
Parts used: Flowering tops and leaves

Medicinal uses 7

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Traditional useLab and mechanism studiesClinical studies

Cuts, scrapes & bleedingTLC
A fresh leaf crushed onto a cut, or into a nostril for a nosebleed, stops the bleeding quickly.
FeverTLC
Drunk hot, opens the pores and releases the heat of a fever.
Colds & fluTLC
Part of the classic first-day-of-a-cold tea with elderflower and peppermint.
Heavy or irregular periodsTLC
Regulates the menstrual flow, steadying a heavy one and moving a scant one.
Indigestion & bloatingTLC
A bitter that wakes up slow digestion and liver clearance.
Cold hands & feetTLC
Moves blood out to the capillaries.
Varicose veins & hemorrhoidsTLC
Tones slack vessels from within; taken as tea for varicose veins and used in sitz baths for hemorrhoids.

Preparations

Fresh leaf for cuts and nosebleeds, hot tea for fevers, and fresh-plant tincture.

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Cautions

People with daisy-family allergies may react to yarrow.
Avoid during pregnancy.
Deep wounds and heavy bleeding need medical care.

Medication interactions

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Pregnancy & breastfeeding

PregnancyAvoid

One of the oldest documented herbs for bringing on menstruation, with uterine-stimulating action. Avoid throughout pregnancy.

BreastfeedingSmall amounts only

Little is known, and daisy-family sensitivity in the baby is possible. Keep to small amounts.

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Folklore

Yarrow pollen turned up in Shanidar IV, a Neanderthal grave in what is now Iraq, laid down with other medicinal plants more than 50,000 years ago, though how it came to be there is still argued over. Achilles is said to have carried yarrow to Troy to stanch his soldiers' wounds, which gave the genus its name, and Roman soldiers knew it as herba militaris. English country names include nosebleed and staunchweed. In China, fifty dried yarrow stalks were counted out to cast the hexagrams of the I Ching.

How to grow

A tough perennial for full sun and lean, well-drained soil; it shrugs off drought and spreads slowly by rhizomes. The wild white form is the medicinal standard, and the pastel garden cultivars are mostly ornamental. Harvest flowering tops in early summer.

In the wild

Meadows, roadsides, pastures, and open woods across the Northern Hemisphere. Yarrow is native to both Eurasia and North America, with many local chemical races.

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