Yarrow.

Achilla millefolium. (Also called Thousand-leaf.)

Also see Hool, 1922: Yarrow.

Natural Order—Compositae. Linnean System, Class 19, Syngenesia; Order 2nd, Polygamia Superflua.

The leaves of common yarrow are mostly radical and lie flat upon the ground; are deep green on the top and downy underneath; exceedingly numerous, twice pinnate, with lanceolate jointed segments. The stems of the leaves are furrowed, the main stem being decumbent at the base, but afterwards growing erect from eight inches to three feet high (generally found about two feet high), terminating in a dense tuft, or corymb, of white, pink, or rose-coloured flowers. It is a perennial, and flowers from July to October. It grows on dry banks, by roadsides, in meadows, pastures, ploughed fields, and waste grounds. It is indigenous to England, Europe, and America.

Medicinal Properties: Diaphoretic, Diuretic, Astringent, Alterative, Tonic.

Its chief employment is in fevers of every type, dysentery, diarrhoea, cholera infantum, indigestion, jaundice, piles, profuse bleeding of every description (internal or external), cold, coughs, bronchitis, influenza, inflammation, dropsy, &c. It is in cases of this description that Yarrow will give extreme satisfaction. Try the followng prescription.

Yarrow ... 1 oz.
Balm ... ½ oz.
Red Sage ... ½ oz.
Garden Angelica ... ¼ oz.

Simmer the whole in three pints of water down to 2½ pints, and pour hot upon one-quarter of an ounce of Composition Powder. Give one wineglassful warm every 10 minutes until the patient begins to perspire freely, and then at longer intervals of, say, an hour.

For a common cold:—

Yarrow ... 1 oz.

Boil in one pint of water down to half a pint, add one teaspoonful of Composition Powder (or three Cayenne pods), strain off the clear liquid, and sweeten well. Drink this hot after getting into bed. Should the cold be of long standing, repeat the above dose every night, and take freely of Composition tea during the day, also taking care to keep the bowels open.

Health from British Wild Herbs was written by Richard Lawrence Hool, N.A.M.H., in 1918.