Yarrow
Achillea millefolium
Feathery leaves and flat flower plates. A traditional wound-wort and bitter. Culinary use is rare and small. Lawn yarrow is still this species. Identify away from poison hemlock via leaves and smell.
GROW → HARVEST → EAT → DRY → POWDER → CAPSULE → GUMMY — forms are not equivalent. Food first.
Identity
What it is
Feathery leaves and flat flower plates. A traditional wound-wort and bitter. Culinary use is rare and small. Lawn yarrow is still this species. Identify away from poison hemlock via leaves and smell.
Identification
Pinnate, feathery, aromatic leaves; not triangular hemlock fern-leaves on a purple-splotched hairless stem.
From the existing encyclopedia
Yarrow shows up in regional spice blends, apothecary tea chests, and slow-cooked pots where aroma matters as much as flavor. Toast whole seeds briefly in a dry pan to wake volatile oils before grinding. Works alongside green tea or ginger in everyday beverage rotation. When substituting dried Yarrow for fresh, use about one-third the volume and bloom in fat or hot water before adding acid or dairy.
Edible portions
- young leaves in tiny bitter amounts
Absence of a portion from this list means it is not treated as food here — not that every other part is toxic.
Growing
- Climate. 3–9
- Light. Full sun
- Soil. Lean; rich soil makes it floppy
- Planting. Spreads. A meadow plant.
Traditional uses
Traditional use Folk styptic and bitter — traditional use
AAA interpretation Traditional use is not automatically evidence, and evidence is not automatically a shopping recommendation.
Next steps
Sources
- USDA PLANTS Database — taxonomy and range (verify current entries)
- No USDA FoodData Central nutrient profile is attached here. That is not a claim that the plant contains no nutrients.
- State cooperative extension growing guides — verify for your region
- Integrated from the existing aaaLifetime / quantum-biohack encyclopedia corpus (unique text preserved where it was not boilerplate).
Honest incompleteness is preferred to fabricated completeness. If a section is missing, no record for it is attached here — not a claim that the plant lacks that characteristic, and not that it was omitted as a secret.
Internal quality class A. Strong page: distinctive plant facts plus practical growing or kitchen use.