herbal treasure chest: yarrow

white yarrow - (achillea millefolium)

how to grow:

Yarrow can be easily grown from seeds. It's a perennial that is hardy in US zones 3 to 10.

medicinal properties:

Yarrow really is a very powerful plant with many medicinal uses. It is used both externally as well as internally.
You can prepare a tea and drink it or use either the tea or the plant topically on wounds to relieve pain, stop the bleeding and speed up the healing. It is antibacterial and anti-inflammatory and helps with slow healing wounds. According to legend the Greek hero Achilles treated his wounds with yarrow and so the plant got its latin name.

Some years ago when my son had hurt his knee and we couldn't immediately go to a doctor yarrow was a great help to relieve his pain.

That's how I became a big fan of this herb. But it can also be used internally for many medical conditions.

It is widely known in folk medicine that yarrow can be used to treat sleeping disorders and anxiety and to cure depression and modern studies seem to confirm this.

Yarrow is also a great herb for lowering blood pressure.

It is said to protect from gastritis, gastric ulcers and stomach cancer.

The flavonoids and caffeic acid that yarrow contains seem to be good for the circulatory (cardiovascular) system.

And yarrow seems to have an inhibitory effect on cancer cells.

yarrow

cautions and possible side effects:

Make sure not to confuse yarrow with poison hemlock or water hemlock.
Yarrow is said to be toxic to dogs, cats and horses.

white yarrow - (achillea millefolium)

how to grow:

medicinal properties:

cautions and possible side effects:

further reading: