Seasonal Wild Flowers

Yarrow

Latin name

Achillea millefolium

Family

Asteraceae

Other names

Milfoil

Flowering season

May to December

English distribution

It is found throughout the country.

See the BSBI distribution map for Yarrow

Habitat

Yarrow grows in most grassland types, ranging from lawns

to sea-cliffs. It also grows on waste ground, sand dunes

and shingle, and by roads, paths and railways.

Description

It is a native, perennial, stoloniferous, strong smelling

herb, growing up to 80cm.

Flowers are white, pink or mauve in dense irregular

corymbs up to 20cm across.

Flowerheads (capitula) are up to 6mm across and

composed of tubular florets with 5 white lobes/ligules).

Ray florets are bigger with larger much larger ligules. They

are mainly female and have a single style with a

devided linear stigma which may be straight or

curved.

Disk florets are mainly hermaphrodite and have 5

similar sized lobes and 5 orange orange stamens

that form a column round the style.

The style and stigma appear above the column

of stamens.

The capitula are above the ovoid involucre which

has green phyllaries (bracts).

.The leaves are 2 to 3 pinnate and strongly aromatic.

The stems are woody and wiry.

Yarrow has traditionally been used herbal medicine

to aid healing and digestion -

see .50 Ways to use Yarrow

^ Top

Previous page: Wood Crane’s-Bill
Next page: Yellow-eyed-grass

Yarrow by the Lune estuary path, Lancaster

Flowers in corymbs

Capitula with ray and disk florets.

Stamen in orange column in disk florets

Close-up of disk floret: 5 short lobes,

column of 5 stamens

Stamens with anthers in disk floret

amongst styles in ray florets

Disk florets with styles and 2 divided

curved stigmas

Side view of capitulum: ray ligules,

disk lobes and styles and stigmas

Branched stems below corymbs

Ovoid involucre: green phyllaries,

ray ligules with 3 points

Aromatic pinnate leaves

Close-up of leaf

Mauve form