Yarrow is now in bloom along the GAP. Yarrow, Achillea millefolium, is known to many people who live along the GAP as Carpenter’s Weed, a reference to the use of its leaves to treat the minor scrapes and scratches that carpenters suffer in the course their work. The crushed leaves, which have a very distinctive smell, are applied to wounds both to staunch bleeding and prevent infection.The genus Achillea is named after the Greek hero Achilles, who by legend used the plant to staunch the bleeding wounds of his soldiers. In the traditional Greek myth, Achilles died after being shot in the heel with an arrow by the Trojan prince Paris, often said to be guided or aided by the god Apollo (twin brother of Artemis; see Artemisia, above). While Achilles used yarrow to treat others, the wound to his own heel remained the archetypal fatal injury against which no herb was effective. The species name, millefolium (Latin), means "thousand-leaved," referring to the highly dissected, feathery foliage.
Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) is a native of Eurasia. There is also one least one unambiguously native North American species, Achillea borealis, found in the arctic and subarctic regions of North America. A. millefolium var. californica, found on the West Coast, is considered by some botanists as a subspecies and not a separate species. Eurasian A. millefolium was introduced into eastern North America by European settlers and is now naturalized and mixed with native North American Yarrow species. Several sources note that what we call Achillea millefolium is a species complex: Eurasian plants and North American plants combined to form multiple subspecies and microspecies. It is safe to say, however, that Yarrow encountered along the GAP is Achillea millefolium. That said, observant GAPers may notice that some Yarrow is gray-green while other plants may be emerald green. Botanists, however, consider these intraspecies variations of Achillea millefolium and not two different species.
Yarrow has perhaps the oldest documented use by humans and archaic humans of any plant in the world, Yarrow plant matter has turned up in a Neanderthal (Homo sapiens neanderthalensis), burial site at the Shanidar Cave in Iraq dated to 60,000 years ago, suggesting deliberate flower placement with the dead. Admittedly, this interpretation has been contested by some researchers who have suggested that the plant matter may have been introduced into the graves by burrowing rodents. More substantial evidence of the use of yarrow by archaic humans turned up in the El Sidrón cave in Asturias, northern Spain, where the remains of at least thirteen Neanderthal individuals dated to 50,000 years ago were excavated. The teeth of five of the Neanderthals contained signature compounds found in Yarrow. Since Yarrow it quite bitter and has no nutritional value researchers at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona in Spain and collaborators from the University of York in England and the University of Sydney in Australia concluded in a landmark study that Yarrow was used by Neanderthals for its medicinal properties.
Yarrow remains to this day and one of the most widely used medicinal plants worldwide. Its broad-spectrum antimicrobial properties when applied topically—perhaps its most common use—is well documented in scientific literature. Tisanes, infusions, and tinctures of the leaves and flowers are thought to be a tonic for the cardiovascular system, making blood vessels strong and flexible. It is also used as aa bitter tonic to promote appetite and assist digestion. A classic diaphoretic that promote sweating, it is also used to treat the symptoms of colds, flus, and fevers.
Alternative names for Yarrow, including Devil's Nettle, Devil's Plaything, and Bad Man's Plaything, speak to the plant’s association with Witchcraft. Paradoxically, Yarrow is simultaneously associated with its use by witches in their practices and as a protection against witches. This dual nature is noted across multiple cultural traditions. European witchcraft associated Yarrow with "the Evil One" and as late as the seventeenth century a suspected witch was tried for using Yarrow in spells. On the other hand, strewing Yarrow on the doorstep was believed to prevent witches from entering a house.
The ancient Chinese believed yarrow had a special connection to the Heavens. Yarrow stalks were used in the I Ching, the Chinese divination system. The I Ching is consulted by focusing on a clear question, then generating a hexagram with dried yarrow stalks. Exactly fifty dried yarrow stalks are used. One is set aside and the remaining forty-nine are sorted through a multi-step mathematical process of division and counting by fours, repeated three times per line to generate each of six lines of a hexagram, then reading the corresponding text in the I Ching Book. The text provides general guidance rather than a simple yes/no answer to your question.
At the very least, GAPers should crush a few yarrow leaves in their hands and enjoy the distinctive smell of this storied plant.
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| Yarrow |
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| Yarrow |
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| The featherly leaves which give the plant its species name, millefolium, Latin for "thousand-leaved" |
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| Yarrow flowers |
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| Yarrow flowers |
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| Yarrow flowers |
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| Yarrow flowers |
