"High Quality Native Prairie Wildflower Seed, Grass Seed, CRP Mixes and Plants"

Asteraceae Family - "Common Yarrow, Gordaldo, Gordoloba, Milfoil, Knight's Milfoil, Milfoil Thousand-leaf, Bloodwort, Woundwort, Devil's Plaything, Green Arrow, Thousand Leaf, Thousand-seal, Thousand-leaved clover, Cammock, Carpenter Grass, Dog Daisy, Wooly Yarrow, Nosebleed Weed, Old Man's Pepper, Sanguinary, Soldier's Woundwort"

Achillea after Achilles of Greek mythology who is said to have used it medicinally and millifolia meaning "thousand-leaved".

Very common to fields, pastures, disturbed areas, roadsides, previously disturbed prairies and open sites throughout the Tallgrass biome. Tiny white flowers in umbels at the top of the plant bloom from June to September. Feathery, fern-like leaves up to 5 inches long. Generally reaches about 1 1/2 feet tall but does grow slightly taller in some places.

An herbal tea made from the entire flowering plant was used to treat colds, fever, anorexia, indigestion, gastric troubles, and internal bleeding. Fresh plant often used as a styptic poultice; some qualities of this species as an expectorant and analgesic made it useful in the treatment of cold and flu symptoms; Native Americans across North America used it similarly. It was also used as a very effective coagulant and was used to quell the flow of blood for everything from deep gashes to arrow and/or spear wounds. The leaves were soaked in water and packed into the nostril(s) to stem the flow of nosebleeds. Yarrow leaves were boiled by both Native Americans and early settlers to creat a wash for eyes irritated from dust, glare and snow blindness. The same wash also provided great relief as a fever wash and was applied to areas suffering painful, persistent itching such as from poison ivy or poison oak. A poultice of bruised Yarrow leaves was laid over or bound to the forehead to relive headache pain. The mashed leaves were also inserted into the outer ear to relieve earache pain almost instantaneously. Native Americans also favored Yarrow baths for the treatment of arthritis.

There are two notations of this plant's use as a local anesthetic recorded by the Research Service of the USDA. One involved a Nevada Native American suffering from a deep thigh wound which had become partially filled by dirt and sand. Fresh, heavily scrubbed yarrow root was crushed to a spongy consistency and applied gently to the wound.After about thirty minutes, the root mass had dulled the pain enough so the wound cound be opened and cleaned with no discomfort to the patient. In the second case, a deeply embedded splinter could not be removed initially and the area of the wound became infected. After thirty minutes soaking in a solution of pulverized yarrow root, the infected area was lanced and the splinter removed with no pain to the patient. These numbing qualities also resulted in the use of the boiled and mashed leaves being inserted into teeth suffering from painful toothache.

Warning! - Can cause dermatitis in many individuals; contains thujone, a known toxin.