Yarrow: myriad leaves and myriad properties

Achillea millefolium L. is the scientific name of a plant belonging to the Composite or Asteraceae family, but it is known popularly by many other names: Soldier’s Herb, Milfoil, Sanguinary, Cut Herb, Bloodwort, Nosebleed, Staunchweed, Woundwort, or Yarroway.

Yarrow thrives in full sun, on moderately rich and moist soils.

It is found in Europe, Asia, and North America. In Italy, in its numerous varieties, it is common from the plains to the mountains, along ditches and in meadows.

It is a perennial plant, with branched rhizomes and simple aerial stems, ranging from 20 cm to over one meter in height.

The leaves are from a few centimeters to 20-30 cm long, 2-5 cm wide, two or three times pinnate (composed of many leaflets that develop on the right and left of the central vein) with very narrow, densely packed lobes, a characteristic that justifies its name “milfoil.”

The stems are branched at the top, forming compound corymbs of various sizes.

The flower heads are 3-6 mm long, just over half as wide. The ligules (from 3 to 7, but generally 5) are about half the length of the involucre and are white or pinkish.

Varieties from the plains are generally taller, have small corymbs, and have an unpleasant odor; while varieties from fresh and humid mountain meadows are at most 1 meter tall, with a more intense and very pleasant odor; all have a bitter taste.

The drug consists of dried flowering tops, leaves, or the whole plant.

The flower heads contain flavonoids, pyrrolidinic alkaloids (stachydrine, achilleine), and an essential oil (0.21%) consisting of monoterpenes (camphene, sabinene, pinene), camphor, 1,8-cineole, and sesquiterpenes which in steam distillation tend to convert into azulenes.

The color of the essential oil can vary but is generally a very deep blue while the olfactory profiles vary depending on the variety; the scent is pungent, similar to Eucalyptus or cut grass, with sweet notes of berries or camphor; the final note is dry, fruity, and tobacco-like.

Yarrow has anti-edemic, anti-inflammatory, cholagogue and choleretic, emmenagogue, antispasmodic, and digestive properties and also has healing and anti-hemorrhagic properties.

Describing the uses more specifically: for internal use, it can be useful in abdominal disorders accompanied by a feeling of heaviness, and acts by stimulating gastric and biliary secretion; in gynecology, it helps to reduce menstrual pain and reduce excessive bleeding, being an excellent hemostatic.

A practical example:

Popular tea for dysmenorrhea (painful menstruation):

– Achillea millefolium herb … 35 grams

– Capsella bursa-pastoris herb … 20 grams

– Melissa officinalis leaves … 35 grams

– Equisetum arvense herb … 10 grams

5% infusion (12 grams of tea in 250 ml of water), one cup 3 times a day

The name of the plant alludes to the Greek hero Achilles, who was believed to have used the plant to stop soldiers’ bleeding during the famous Trojan War.

The tea made from the infusion of the leaves has been considered an excellent remedy for reducing the effects of colds.

As for external use, Yarrow is used in dermatology as a healing, antiseptic, vulnerary, and anti-inflammatory agent; it is recommended for compresses or sitz baths, in cases of hemorrhoids, including bleeding ones, fissures, varicose ulcers, and generally for wounds that are slow to heal.

For compresses, the decoction produced by boiling a good pinch of dried plant for 10 minutes in a liter of water is used, and then everything is filtered.

For internal use, it is very practical to use the Mother Tincture, obtained from the fresh whole plant, at a dose of 30-40 drops in a little water, several times a day.

Yarrow essential oil has documented antiparasitic (anti-leishmaniasis), insecticidal (mosquitoes), antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and antispasmodic properties.

As for safety of use: it is photosensitive and contraindicated during pregnancy.

Curiosities:

In addition to its health uses, Yarrow has long been associated with predicting the future and magic; in the British Isles, the Druids (Celtic priestly order) used the stems for weather forecasting.

As a remedy for wounds and as an anti-inflammatory, it was widely used by American Native Indians, who used it, after boiling for about an hour, mixed with warm milk; also as a drink to combat severe winter colds.

The Sienese doctor Andrea Mattioli, XVI century, wrote: “Crushed its mane, and plastered, seals fresh wounds, assures them from inflammations. It dams the flow of blood, and equally applied to menstruation from below with wool: and therefore sits in its decoction the women who suffer the flow of the matrix. It is also drunk for dysentery.”

ANJA LATINI

Registered Herbalist at RNEP No. GLT0018S