- Region
- Europe
- Origin
- Temperate Europe and Asia; also native or naturalised in North America. Achillea millefolium
Europe · Herb · № 56
Achillea millefolium
Herb · Europe
Yarrow
Achillea millefolium
Traditionally used to stop bleeding from minor wounds, for fevers and colds, and as a digestive bitter. Clinical evidence is limited.
Safety notes
May cause allergic reactions in people sensitive to the daisy family (such as chamomile or ragweed). Avoid during pregnancy.
Cautions by tradition (6)
- Herbal medicine worldwide: Not in high doses in pregnancy.
- Western herbalism: No large doses in pregnancy.
- Natural skin and hair care: Not with an allergy to the daisy family or during pregnancy.
- Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) medicine: Not in pregnancy or with an allergy to the daisy family.
- Lakota (Teton Sioux) medicine: A deep or bleeding wound needs a doctor. Not with an allergy to the daisy family.
- Western herbs in Chinese medicine: Not with internal cold, and caution with qi deficiency. Not during pregnancy. Possibly allergenic with hypersensitivity to the daisy family (rarely externally). Contains a small amount of thujone: do not take in high doses for long periods.
Preparation
The flowering herb is used as a tea, tincture or compress. No dosage is given here.
Use in traditions
The botanical name refers to Achilles, who in Greek myth treated soldiers' wounds with it. Ody describes it as a classic wound herb of Western herbalism; several Native North American peoples also used native yarrow.
Applications
Use by tradition
How different herbal traditions describe this herb. Amounts are traditional guidelines checked for obvious errors; they are not medical advice. For poisonous plants no dosage is given on purpose.
Herbal medicine worldwide
Attributed effects
Astringent, induces sweating, vasodilating, aids digestion, regulates menstruation, fever-reducing; for catarrh, colds and flu, cystitis, high blood pressure, heavy menstruation, hay fever, eczema; leaf stops bleeding; oil anti-inflammatory.
Preparation and amount
Tea (infusion) to sweat out a fever, with elderflower and peppermint for colds and flu, also to stimulate appetite; tincture in the standard dose; compress on varicose veins; fresh leaf in the nostril for nosebleeds and as a compress on small wounds; steam inhalation of 1 tbsp flowers for hay fever; 5–10 drops of oil in 25 ml St John's wort oil as massage.
Caution: Not in high doses in pregnancy.
Western herbalism
Attributed effects
Induces sweating, diuretic, stimulating, astringent, tonic, cleansing, wound-healing; antimicrobial, lowers blood fats, improves gut flora, stops bleeding and bruising, regulates menstruation, drives out fever and flu through sweating.
Preparation and amount
Tea: 2 tsp per cup, 10 min, 1–3 cups a day, or 120–180 ml hot until you start to sweat (fever/flu); tincture 1–2 dropperfuls 3–4 times a day; sitz bath (30 g per litre, 1 hour, bathe 20 min) for bleeding haemorrhoids.
Caution: No large doses in pregnancy.
Natural skin and hair care
Attributed effects
Mildly astringent and bitter; traditionally laid on small wounds and drunk as a tea for colds.
Preparation and amount
Internal: leaf in a tea for a starting cold. External: dried yarrow in an acne toner (see the recipes).
Caution: Not with an allergy to the daisy family or during pregnancy.
Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) medicine
Attributed effects
For fever and convulsions in babies, headache and worms in children.
Preparation and amount
Steep a few leaves in a cup of warm water; drink it or rub it over the body.
Caution: Not in pregnancy or with an allergy to the daisy family.
Lakota (Teton Sioux) medicine
Attributed effects
Eagle Shield's 'herb for the wounded'; with it he cured a man who had been shot through the body.
Preparation and amount
Chew the herb and lay it on the wound.
Caution: A deep or bleeding wound needs a doctor. Not with an allergy to the daisy family.
Western herbs in Chinese medicine
- Nature and taste
- bitter, pungent, slightly cold
- Meridians
- lung, bladder, liver
Attributed effects
Resolves wind-heat at the surface: fever, headache, cough and sore throat, and thick yellow or green phlegm with thirst. Cools the blood and stops bleeding in stomach, intestines and airways and in excessively heavy menstruation; for an acute nosebleed, small, frequent doses of fresh tincture. Moves stagnant liver energy in menstrual pain, high blood pressure, irritability, headache and red eyes. Expels wind, dampness and heat from hot, painful joints. Promotes urination and drains heat (most strongly when prepared cold). Yarrow is often called 'warming', but according to this approach it cools on balance: the pungent taste stimulates, the bitterness cools. Like chamomile, it contains the anti-inflammatory chamazulene; the essential oil is dark blue. The Chinese species Achillea alpina and A. wilsoniana (yi zhi hao) are regarded as warm and slightly toxic and are used for bruises, rheumatic pain, swellings and haemorrhoids.
Preparation and amount
3–9 g as a short decoction or infusion, or 1–5 ml tincture. Pick in full flower (early to mid summer). Well-dried herb smells aromatic, contains more flowers than leaf and no thick stems; the flowers are white, the leaf bright green. The preparation steers the action: a hot infusion is dispersing and diaphoretic, a decoction or cold infusion is more bitter and works more downwards and diuretically, a fresh tincture has the broadest spectrum. Externally: freshly bruised herb, or dried herb with water made into a paste, on rashes and spots; dried, powdered leaf on a small wound to stop bleeding; as a salve or paste for damp-hot rashes. Poultice with comfrey: grind 5 g comfrey and make it into a thick paste with yarrow tincture; refresh at least twice a day.
Combinations
- With elderflower and peppermint as a sweating tea for wind-heat with fever, too little sweating and sore throat (with oshá for severe sore throat, muscle pain and headache; with yerba mansa and encelia for severe muscle pain from dampness)
- As a reinforcement of the formula yin qiao san
- With usnea, echinacea and dandelion leaf for damp heat in the bladder with burning urination
- With fresh shepherd's purse tincture for blood in urine or stool or excessively heavy menstruation (plus uva-ursi for severe pain)
- With Chinese skullcap and pleurisy root for phlegm-heat in the lungs
- With yerba mansa and goldenseal or Oregon grape root externally on damp-hot sores
Caution: Not with internal cold, and caution with qi deficiency. Not during pregnancy. Possibly allergenic with hypersensitivity to the daisy family (rarely externally). Contains a small amount of thujone: do not take in high doses for long periods.
Folklore and herbal magic
Symbolic meanings from folk use and modern herbal magic. These are handed-down associations, not effects.
Courage to change, attracts love, enhances psychic gifts, lets go of negative energy, prophetic dreams, courage, healing, love, marriage, friendship, psychic abilities, breaking curses.
Herbal magic and rituals
Attributed effects
In herbal magic associated with courage, love, divination and protection.
Preparation and amount
The Latin name Achillea refers to Achilles, who according to myth treated his soldiers' wounds with yarrow. In China the dried stalks were used to consult the I Ching, and in European folk practice yarrow was laid under the pillow to dream of a future love.
Home, kitchen and folk use
Attributed effects
Stops bleeding; in tea purifies the blood, good for digestion and for colds.
Preparation and amount
Leaf and stem (harvested in late summer) as a compress to stop bleeding; tonic tea; cold tea.