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Yarrow
Text by Rosalee de la Forêt.
Illustrations by Tatiana Rusakova
Ebook designed by Tudor Maier
©2019 Rosalee de la Foret, LLC. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without written permission of the author.
The herbal and plant information in this Workbook is for educational purposes only. The information
within the Workbook is not intended as a substitute for the advice provided by your physician or other
medical professional. If you have or suspect that you have a serious health problem, promptly contact
your health care provider. Always consult with a health care practitioner before using any herbal remedy
or food, especially if pregnant, nursing, or have a medical condition.
Published by Rosalee de la Forêt, LLC, Carlton, WA
First digital edition, july 2019. Published in the U.S.A.
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Table of Contents
Yarrow Summary..........................................................................................4
Yarrow Energetics........................................................................................4
Yarrow for Wounds.......................................................................................5
Yarrow for Harmonizing the Blood..............................................................6
Yarrow for Cold & Influenza Symptoms.......................................................7
Yarrow for the Urinary System......................................................................7
Yarrow for Digestion.....................................................................................8
Yarrow for Women........................................................................................8
Yarrow for Oral Health..................................................................................9
Botanically Speaking.................................................................................10
Plant Preparations.....................................................................................10
Special Considerations..............................................................................10
About Rosalee............................................................................................12
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Yarrow Summary
Botanical name: Achillea millefolium

Family: Asteraceae (Compositae)

Parts Used: leaves, flowers, roots

Energetics: harmonizing, with a tendency towards cooling,

drying

Taste: bitter, pungent

Plant Properties: antiseptic, anodyne, antimicrobial,

aromatic, astringent, carminative, diuretic, inflammatory
modulator, relaxing diaphoretic, styptic, vulnerary

Plant Uses: wounds, infections, fevers, varicose veins,

hemorrhoids, dysmenorrhea, urinary tract infections,
bleeding wounds

Plant Preparations: tea, tincture, incense, steam, poultice,

oil infusion/salve/suppository

Yarrow must have a thousand virtues! It grows commonly all over the world and has been used as
medicine by humans for tens of thousands of years. We know Neanderthals were using yarrow as long
as 50,000 years ago.1 Yarrow is boldly aromatic and makes a powerful harmonizing medicine for a wide
range of issues, including acute injuries as well as chronic health challenges. Some herbalists include
yarrow on a short list of panacea herbs, meaning herbs that can address many different conditions.

Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) is one of the most important medicinal herbs there is;
it’s found pretty much everywhere, and it’s been used for everything.
Henriette Kress
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Yarrow Energetics
Herbalists often look to a plant’s energetics to determine its usage. Cayenne is hot and stimulating
while Astragalus is sweet and tonifying. Yarrow teaches us that herbs sometimes don’t fall into narrowly
defined terms or classifications. It can be both cooling and warming. It can both stop bleeding as well
as promote blood movement.

Herbalist Matt Wood writes that “[Yarrow] is both cooling and warming, fluid generating and controlling.
Remedies with contradictory but complementary properties are often of great utility since they are able
to normalize opposing conditions. This is true for yarrow.”2

Yarrow is a commonly found plant with a complex array of uses. It is a plant that is well worth getting to
know.

Yarrow for Wounds

For thousands of years yarrow has been used to heal wounds and stop bleeding. It has been called by
many names over the centuries, including the descriptives spearwort, staunchweed, and woundwort.
Yarrow offers a complete package that is well suited for healing injuries.

As a styptic

When used as a topical poultice, both fresh and dried, yarrow can encourage blood to coagulate, helping
to stop bleeding. This is a helpful tip for hikers who may be far from medical care. I’ve seen it work in
some dramatic circumstances. Using yarrow to stop bleeding can be as simple as macerating the leaves
and applying them to the area. It’s famous for stopping nosebleeds.

As an antimicrobial

Yarrow is broadly antimicrobial and antiseptic. When used on a wound it can help keep it clear of
infection or it can be used to address signs of infection such as heat, redness, or yellow discharge.

Yarrow was famously used on Roman battlefields and has long been thought of as a soldier’s herb.

In the 1st Century, Dioscorides recommended to “pound the leaves and put them on a fresh wound to
close and heal the wound, clear it from heat and inflammation and congeal the blood.”3
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Recent studies have further confirmed yarrow’s gifts for healing wounds. One study showed that oil
infused with yarrow was effective in reducing inflammation on the skin.4 Another study demonstrated
that yarrow, in combination with St. John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum), increased the healing of
episiotomy wounds.5

Yarrow for Harmonizing the Blood

While yarrow is famous for stopping external bleeding, it is also commonly used internally to move
stagnant blood. Healthy blood is blood that is freely circulating around our body. Stagnant blood such
as varicose veins, blood blisters, and even fibroids can lead to an array of symptoms and discomfort.
Yarrow is often the herb of choice for relieving stagnant blood conditions.

“As a blood regulator, it helps clot when things need to be clotted, improves circulation
and blood flow when needed, and also strengthens the lining of blood vessels and capillaries.”
Maria Noel Groves
Body into Balance

Yarrow for Cold & Influenza Symptoms

Yarrow offers relief for practically every symptom of the cold and flu: It can be used as a gargle or throat
spray to soothe a sore throat.

Taken as a warm cup of tea it promotes circulation to the periphery and can cause profuse sweating,
thus supporting the fever process. Because it does this so well, it is often considered a detox or cleansing
herb and can be used to support skin health.

Eclectic herbalist Finley Ellingwood recommended a syrup of the leaves for a chronic cough accompanied
by bloody sputum.6 Herbalist Jeremy Ross combines yarrow with Angelica (Angelica archangelica) for
cold damp phlegm in the lungs and with Pleurisy root (Asclepius tuberosa) for fevers and bronchial
phlegm.7

Yarrow for the Urinary System

Yarrow is one of my favorite herbs for addressing urinary tract infections. I often recommend it combined
with uva ursi (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi) and a demulcent such as marshmallow root (Althaea officinalis).
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It’s a urinary astringent and antiseptic, helping to dispel the infection while toning the tissues. And
when taken lukewarm or cool, it acts as a diuretic, promoting healthy urination while tonifying tissues.

Eclectic herbalists used yarrow for a variety of urinary complaints including irritation of the kidneys and
urethra, suppression of urine, and “chronic diseases of the urinary apparatus.”8,9,10

One study has shown there are possible benefits of using yarrow for people with kidney disease.11

Yarrow for Digestion

Yarrow’s ability to stop bleeding, heal wounds, abate infections, and address many symptoms of colds
or flu often get highlighted, but there’s a lot more to yarrow.

The bitter aromatic qualities of yarrow can be used to support healthy digestion. It can be added to
bitter blends or taken as a tea. One preliminary study showed some benefits of using an herbal blend
including yarrow, ginger and Boswellia in patients diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).12
Eclectic herbalists used yarrow for people with dysentery.13

Yarrow for Women

Yarrow’s gifts of harmonizing the blood make it useful for a wide range of women’s health issues. Eclectic
herbalists used it for both urinary hemorrhage and leucorrhea.14 Dr. Aviva Romm recommends it as a
topical treatment for varicosities related to pregnancy.15

One double-blind clinical trial found that yarrow was effective at relieving pain associated with
menstrual cramps.16

Yarrow for Oral Health

Michael Moore, in his book Medicinal Plants of the Mountain West, shares how he used yarrow root to
relieve his toothache. Yarrow with its astringent, anodyne, and antimicrobial properties seems well
suited for the situation.

One study showed that a distillate of yarrow healed the symptoms of oral mucositis in chemotherapy
patients faster than simply using the routine solution.17
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Botanically Speaking
The genus Achillea may refer to the Greek war hero Achilles or his soldiers using yarrow for their
wounds. The Iliad, which recorded some of the adventures of Achilles, never mentions yarrow. As one
botanist writes, “The identification of yarrow with Achilles is old and strong, but elusive.”18 The Kew
Botanic Gardens of London recognizes over 150 different species of plants in the Achillea genus. Achillea
millefolium is the species most often used by herbalists.

I’m often asked if yarrows with different colors of flowers can be similarly used. My best advice is to
follow your senses. I recently had a group of herbal students over for an afternoon plant walk. I had
them smell and taste both the wild yarrow growing in a dry field and the pink cultivated yarrow I had
bought from a nursery. The consensus was the pink cultivated yarrow smelled sweeter and softer, while
the wild yarrow had a stronger more aromatic scent. The difference was very noticeable. Like all plants,
yarrow’s strength and aromatics change where ever it grows and becomes stronger under difficult
growing conditions.

Yarrow loves to grow in sunny fields and meadows, although it can tolerate some shade as well. It
commonly grows all over the globe. It reaches one to three feet in height and is a perennial herbaceous
herb, meaning it dies back each year but emerges again in the spring from the roots.

The flowers grow as a compound corymb and are most often white, but can have some pinkish hue.
Yarrow has both the ray and disk flowers characteristic of the Asteraceae.

The species name millefolium means a thousand leaves, referring to the finely divided, feather-like
leaves of yarrow. In the spring, they emerge from the ground. They also grow along the flower stem. The
plant often spreads by its rhizomatous roots.

Plant Preparations
The leaves and flowers of yarrow are most often used by Western herbalists. Ethnobotanical texts, and
herbalist Michael Moore, sometimes recommend the roots.

Yarrow can be made into a tea. can have a strong taste and is often combined with other herbs.

Yarrow is commonly used as an alcohol extract (tincture).

Yarrow can be externally applied as a poultice or infused into oil and used in salves or to make
suppositories.

Yarrow’s aromatic qualities can be garnered in a facial or vaginal steam.

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Yarrow is also distilled and used as both a hydrosol and as an essential oil. Vast quantities of yarrow are
needed to make the essential oil and so hydrosols are recommended as a more sustainable option.

Special Considerations
Yarrow has not been shown to be safe during pregnancy.
Those who are sensitive to plants in the Asteraceae will want to use caution.
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Looking for Yarrow?

If you aren’t able to harvest yarrow near you, here’s some other ways you can find it.

1. Search for herbal apothecaries near you.

2. Visit my listing of herb farms and wildcrafters within the US and Canada to find fresh herbs near you.

3. Visit Mountain Rose Herbs, an online apothecary that sells high quality organic herbs. They are my
first choice for herbs I’m not able to find near me.
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Citations

1. Barras, Colin. “Neanderthal Dental Tartar Reveals Evidence of Medicine.” New Scientist, New
Scientist, 18 July 2012, www.newscientist.com/article/dn22075-neanderthal-dental-tartar-reveals-
evidence-of-medicine#.Uym1WdxGhOo.

2. Wood, Matthew. The Earthwise Herbal: A Complete Guide to Old World Medicinal Plants. Berkeley,
CA: North Atlantic Books, 2008.

3. Ross, Jeremy. Combining Western Herbs and Chinese Medicine. Verl. für Ganzheitliche Medizin Wühr,
2010.

4. Tadić, Vanja, Ivana Arsić, Jelena Zvezdanović, Ana Zugić, Dragan Cvetković, and Sava Pavkov. “The
Estimation of the Traditionally Used Yarrow (Achillea Millefolium L. Asteraceae) Oil Extracts with
Anti-inflamatory Potential in Topical Application.” Journal of ethnopharmacology 199 (2017):
doi:10.1016/j.jep.2017.02.002.

5. Hajhashemi, Maryam, Zinat Ghanbari, Minoo Movahedi, Mahmoud Rafieian, Atefeh Keivani, and
Fedyeh Haghollahi. “The Effect of Achillea Millefolium and Hypericum Perforatum Ointments on
Episiotomy Wound Healing in Primiparous Women.” The journal of maternal-fetal & neonatal
medicine : the official journal of the European Association of Perinatal Medicine, the Federation of
Asia and Oceania Perinatal Societies, the International Society of Perinatal Obstetricians 31, no. 1
(2018): doi:10.1080/14767058.2016.1275549.

6. Ellingwood, Finley. American Materia Medica, Therapeutics and Pharmacognosy: Developing the
Latest Acquired Knowledge of Drugs, and Especially of the Direct Action of Single Drugs upon Exact
Conditions of Disease, with Especial Reference to the Therapeutics of the Plant Drug. Portland, Or.:
Electric Medical Publications, 1919. 247

7. Ross, Jeremy. Combining Western Herbs and Chinese Medicine. Verl. für Ganzheitliche Medizin Wühr,
2010.

8. Scudder, John M. A Familiar Treatise on Medicine. Moore, Wilstach & Moore, 1870.

9. Ellingwood, Finley. American Materia Medica, Therapeutics and Pharmacognosy: Developing the
Latest Acquired Knowledge of Drugs, and Especially of the Direct Action of Single Drugs upon Exact
Conditions of Disease, with Especial Reference to the Therapeutics of the Plant Drug. Portland, Or.:
Electric Medical Publications, 1919. 247

10. Felter, Harvey Wickes, and John Uri Lloyd. King’s American Dispensatory. Eighteenth Edition. Third
Revision ed.

11. Vahid, Sepideh, Simin Dashti-Khavidaki, Farrokhlegha Ahmadi, Mohsen Amini, and Mohammad
Hosein Salehi Surmaghi. “Effect of Herbal Medicine Achillea Millefolium on Plasma Nitrite and
Nitrate Levels in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease: A Preliminary Study.” Iranian journal of
kidney diseases 6, no. 5 (2012): 350-4.

12. Kazemian, Afarin, Ali Toghiani, Katayoun Shafiei, Hamid Afshar, Rahmatollah Rafiei, Mahnaz Memari,
and Peyman Adibi. “Evaluating the Efficacy of Mixture of Boswellia Carterii, Zingiber Officinale, and
Yarrow 12

Achillea Millefoliumon Severity of Symptoms, Anxiety, and Depression in Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Patients.” Journal of research in medical sciences : the official journal of Isfahan University of Medical
Sciences 22 (2017): doi:10.4103/jrms.JRMS_905_16.

13. Felter, Harvey Wickes, and John Uri Lloyd. King’s American Dispensatory. Eighteenth Edition. Third
Revision ed.

14. Ibid

15. Romm, Aviva Jill. Botanical Medicine for Womens Health. Elsevier, 2010.

16. Jenabi, Ensiyeh, and Bita Fereidoony. “Effect of Achillea Millefolium on Relief of Primary
Dysmenorrhea: A Double-Blind Randomized Clinical Trial.” Journal of pediatric and adolescent
gynecology 28, no. 5 (2015): doi:10.1016/j.jpag.2014.12.008.

17. Miranzadeh, Sedigheh, Mohsen Adib-Hajbaghery, Leyla Soleymanpoor, and Majid Ehsani. “Effect
of Adding the Herb Achillea Millefolium on Mouthwash on Chemotherapy Induced Oral Mucositis
in Cancer Patients: A Double-blind Randomized Controlled Trial.” European journal of oncology
nursing : the official journal of European Oncology Nursing Society 19, no. 3 (2015): doi:10.1016/j.
ejon.2014.10.019.

18. Keeler, Kathleen. “Plant Story-- Yarrow, Achillea Millefolium, an Ancient Healing Herb.” A Wandering
Botanist, 6 Apr. 2014, khkeeler.blogspot.com/2014/04/plant-story-yarrow-achillea-millefolium_6.
html.
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About Rosalee

R
osalee de la Forêt, is passionate about
helping you explore the world of herbalism
and nature connection. She is the Education
Director at LearningHerbs, a registered herbalist
with the American Herbalist Guild, and the author
of the bestselling book Alchemy of Herbs: Transform
Everyday Ingredients into Foods and Remedies
that Heal as well as the online courses The Taste
of Herbs, Herbal Cold Care, and Apothecary: The
Alchemy of Herbs Video Companion.

Get more herbal recipes and and exclusive herbal

trainings at: HerbsWithRosalee.com.