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Achillea millefolium

Family: Asteraceae/Compositae (aster/daisy family)
Common Names: common yarrow, milfoil, sneezewort, soldier's friend

The 100 or so species of yarrows are herbaceous perennials, most with fragrant lacy foliage and small daisy-like flowerheads borne in rounded corymbs. Common yarrow has leaves that are grayish green, aromatic, and very finely dissected, like soft dainty ferns. The plant forms dense spreading mats of lacy leaves from rhizomes that creep beneath the ground surface. In summer yarrow sends up erect, grayish, usually unbranched stems, 1-3 ft (0.3-0.9 m) tall. The fifty or more small, about 0.25 in (0.6 cm) across with whitish flowerheads are borne in flat to domed clusters, 2-3 in (5-7.6 cm) in diameter.

Yarrow has been used as a medicine for ages. The genus name, Achillea, honours the Greek hero Achilles, who is said to have used yarrow on the battlefield to staunch the bleeding of his men's wounds.

It makes a bitter tonic which stimulates digestion. Additionally, it's expectorant, carminative (dispels gas), hemostatic, astringent, antibiotic, anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic, analgesic, stimulant, and emmenagogue. Yarrow is a general tonic for the cardio-vascular system, lowers blood pressure, and slows heartbeat. Modern science has identified well over a hundred active biological compounds in this plant. Among the more notable are achilleine (hemostatic), apigenin, azulene (anti-inflammatory), camphor, coumarin, inulin, menthol, quercetin, rutin, salicylic acid, and thujone (neurotoxic).