Page 137 - The Forager’s Guide to Wild Foods
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Yarrow, Achillea
millefolium (ASTERACEAE)
Alpsdake, CC-BY-SA-4.0
YARROW is a plant that has been used medicinally poultice to stop bleeding and as an antibiotic, or tak-
for thousands of years. It grows 1-3 ft. (0.3-1m) tall en internally to bring down fever and fight bacterial
and occurs naturally in almost every part of North infections. To stop bleeding, chew and apply it direct-
America, other than in exceptionally arid climates. ly to the wound for 2-3 min. or until bleeding stops.
Achillea millefolium references the Greek hero Achil- HOW TO HARVEST AND EAT: Harvesting yarrow is
les, who used Yarrow to treat the wounds of his sol- as simple as cutting individual leaves from the base of
diers and speed up healing. the plant. Its strong flavor proves great when minced
FLOWER: White flowers grow on a funnel-shaped and used for seasoning meat or vegetables, but is too
umbel protruding about 2 ft. (0.6m) from the ground bitter to consume in large quantities. You can use it
on a single stem. Flowers bloom from May to July, and similarly to how you would use Rosemary. It can also
each umbel is a cluster of 14-40 tiny disk flowers sur- be dried and ground into an easy-to-use seasoning
rounded by 3-8 ray flowers. There are cultivated va- mix. Both leaves and flowers can be infused in hot wa-
rieties with yellow, pink, or red flowers. Yarrow does ter to make a medicinal tea.
not produce fleshy fruits, but small seeds that can be YARROW POTATOES: Mince yarrow finely and mix
collected from the flowers once they start to dry and with your favorite potato recipe! Only add 1-2 small
turn grey. leaves per serving to avoid an overly bitter flavor.
LEAF: “Millefolium” translates to “thousand leaves”, POISONOUS LOOK-ALIKES: Poison Hemlock, Conium
referring to its highly compound fern-like leaves. They maculatum - Yarrow leaves are much finer, softer, and
are 2-8 inches (5-20cm) long and mostly grow from a frillier than those of Poison Hemlock and the flower
single base, other than smaller leaflets that grow on rarely grows more than 2 ft. (0.6 meters) from the
the flower stem. The foliage is aromatic and serves to ground. In contrast, Poison Hemlock bares its flower
distinguish it from potential look-alikes. on a tall purple-splotched stem that can grow up to 6
EDIBLE PARTS: leaves, flowers ft. (2 meters) in height.
KEY MEDICINAL USES: Yarrow is used externally as a
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