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By Bob Buell

Achillea millefolium, the scientific name for the circumpolar common yarrow, takes its genus name from the Homeric warrior Achilles. He is thought to have used yarrow to treat the wounds of his warriors. The leaves are reported to stop bleeding, and a poultice helps heal inflammation, according to Nancy Dale’s 1986 book Flowering Plants. There are also other reported medicinal qualities of common yarrow. The Yuki Indians of California drank a tea made from the leaves and flowers to treat consumption, stomach ache, and headache, as recorded by V. K. Chestnut in his 1902 volume Plants Used by the Indians of Mendocino County, California. According to Chestnut’s book, the Yuki also used the tea as a lotion for sore eyes. Common yarrow has been used "...since ancient times to treat colds, fevers, and many other human ailments," wrote Helen Sharsmith in her 1965 Spring Wildflowers of the San Francisco Bay Region. The specific epithet, meaning "thousand leaves," refers to the finely divided leaves.

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