Common yarrow
Prepared by Jennifer L. D’Appollonio, Assistant Scientist, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469. Updated February 2018.
Scientific name: Achillea millefolium L.
Common name(s): common yarrow, milfoil, western yarrow
Links: USDA PLANTS Profile, NPIN Profile, Go Botany
Images: (to see enlargements [PC]: click on image, then right click and choose “view image”)
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- May, pre-flower
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- last year’s inflorescence
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- early flower
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- early flower
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- in flower
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- in mowed field
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- leaf detail
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- flower detail
Description:
– perennial herb
-fibrous roots
-spreads with rhizomes
-leaves are divided and hairy
– generally flowers June through September in ME
– in New England, A. millefolium L. ssp. lanulosa (Nutt.) Piper; see Go Botany webpage
Habitat:
-disturbed land
-open forests
-grasslands
-drought tolerant
Natural History:
-used by the Pawnee and Chippewa tribes
- used the stalk as a pain reliever
- steamed the leaves to relieve headaches
Source(s):
Haines, A., Farnsworth, E., Morrison, G., & New England Wild Flower Society. (2011). New England Wildflower Society’s Flora Novae Angliae: A manual for the identification of native and naturalized higher vascular plants of New England. Framingham, MA: New England Wild Flower Society. p. 371.
Hansen, R.W., S.B. Hansen and E.A. Osgood. 1991. Reproductive phenologies of selected flowering plants in eastern Maine forests. ME Agric. Exp. Station Tech. Bull. 143. 17 pp.
Heinrich, B. 1976. Flowering phenologies: Bog, woodland, and disturbed habitats. Ecology. 57(5):890-899.
Hurteau, Matthew D. “COMMON YARROW Achillea Millefollium L.” Plant Fact Sheet, USDA National Plant Data Center , Nov. 2003, plants.usda.gov/factsheet/pdf/fs_acmi2.pdf.