Yarrow (Common Milfoil)
Achillea millefolium
Skin irritating
Family:
Asteraceae (daisies)
Description:
Yarrow is a hairy, aromatic perennial with a simple or branching stem. Flowerheads are minute, in dense, flat-topped, terminal clusters. Ray florets are minute, white, rarely light pink; the disk florets are light yellow. Blooms May–November. The leaves are finely dissected, fernlike, to 10 inches long, narrow-oblong, alternate. The odor is distinctively sweet and rather soapy, akin to the smell of chrysanthemums.
Several cultivars have been developed for the gardener, with a variety of flower colors.
Size:
Height: to 2½ feet.
Yarrow_plant_Tucker_10-25-15.JPG
Yarrow (Common Milfoil)
Yarrow is a perennial herb with finely dissected, fernlike leaves. It has an aromatic, spicy scent.
Yarrow_Leaf_Tucker_10-25-15.JPG
Yarrow Leaf
The leaves of yarrow are distinctively scented. This plant occurs in fields, pastures, prairies, roadsides, waste places, and disturbed sites.
Habitat and conservation:
Occurs in fields, pastures, prairies, roadsides, waste places, and disturbed sites. It is native to North America, Europe, and Asia. With its strong odor and host of potent chemicals, it has had many spiritual and medicinal uses in human cultures across the world. Its wild forms can be weedy to the point of invasiveness, but many horticultural varieties have been developed that are easier to manage in gardens.
Distribution in Missouri:
Statewide.
Human connections:
Yarrow has a long history as a medicinal plant in China, Europe, and North America. In China, it was used for fortune-telling in the I Ching. Europeans long ago used it in magical amulets; today they use it in sheep fodder. Yarrow was found at a Neanderthal burial site in northern Iraq.
Ecosystem connections:
Many insects visit the flowers for nectar and pollen, and others eat the leaves. Researchers have found that some cavity-nesting birds, including starlings, line their nests with yarrow, whose aromatic chemicals may inhibit parasites.
Similar Species
Queen Anne’s Lace (Wild Carrot)
Daucus carota
Sweet Cicely (Anise Root)
Osmorhiza claytonii and O. longistylis
Common Water Hemlock
Cicuta maculata
Hedge Parsley
Torilis arvensis
Slender Mountain Mint
Pycnanthemum tenuifolium
American Feverfew
Parthenium integrifolium
Bastard Toadflax
Comandra umbellata (formerly C. richardsiana)
White Crownbeard
Verbesina virginica
About Wildflowers, Grasses and Other Nonwoody Plants in Missouri
A very simple way of thinking about the green world is to divide the vascular plants into two groups: woody and nonwoody (or herbaceous). But this is an artificial division; many plant families include some species that are woody and some that are not. The diversity of nonwoody vascular plants is staggering! Think of all the ferns, grasses, sedges, lilies, peas, sunflowers, nightshades, milkweeds, mustards, mints, and mallows — weeds and wildflowers — and many more!