This article is about how to identify, forage, prepare, and use wild Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) for herbal remedies and lovely skincare. **You can use bulk purchased Yarrow in the same ways.

Yarrow is a medicinal wild plant that grows in almost all areas of North America. It’s got some distinguishing features that make it easy to identify, and once you know what these are, you’ll be seeing it everywhere! It has many traditional and newer uses, and clinical studies bear out yarrow’s usefulness for our health and wellness.

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How to Identify Yarrow

Yarrow is a drought tolerant perennial plant that pops its lovely head out of the prairie grasses after the hard rains of the spring. At least, that's what it has done here on the Palouse and Camas prairie areas near us. I have heard it grows about everywhere...but when we lived in the Southern Nevada Mojave Desert I never saw it wild. Up here where we live now in Idaho, I am seeing it all the time!

It grows wild all over the Southeast part of the United States and has earned the nickname, the “Battlefield” plant because it was such an important medicinal herb during the Civil War in the mid-1800’s. Soldiers and field medics used it to staunch bleeding and for good reason! It’s a very powerful styptic herb!

The growing range for yarrow is from upper areas of Central America, and throughout every state of the United States and all of Canada. The only places it just doesn’t grow in the wild are in the desert areas in the Southwest and also along the sea coast of California and parts of the East coast.

Yarrow has some clear identifiers. One is that the flowers are on stalks in bunches or clusters. These form a medium to large, flat umbrella of flowers. If it's not flat, it's not yarrow. The leaves are very frilly and look delicate. However, this is a pretty tough plant. In fact, the “millefolium” species part of its Latin name literally means, “a thousand leaves.”

The leaves are larger toward the bottom, and in areas of sparse rain, the leaves often remain small, although are just as frilly. They’re arranged in a spiral around the stem, and have tiny little hairs that are easy to overlook. Once you’ve identified and seen the leaves, these are the best giveaway that you’re looking at yarrow.

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The flowers are an indicator, but it’s easy to get them mixed up with other lookalikes, such as Queen Anne’s lace (Daucus carota). Queen Anne’s lace has similar-looking flowers, but the leaves are completely different, with an appearance somewhat of small carrot leaves. Queen Anne’s lace also smells strongly of carrots, while yarrow smells fresh and “herbaceous.”

Wild yarrow is white, sometimes pink or light purple, and sometimes a pale yellow. Yarrow has been cultivated for gardens to be all kinds of colors, and these plants are useful medicinally, too. Just be aware that some herbalists believe the cultivated, colorful bright yellow yarrow doesn't have the same medicinal power as the wild yarrow. I've used both and had good results either way.

Yarrow grows from about 1 1/2 feet to up to four feet tall in healthy environments. When I cultivated mine in S. Nevada, it grew to a good two feet tall in the middle of summer and was covered in many umbrels of flowers. Here in Idaho, I’ve been able to grow stands up to three feet tall. In the wild, the yarrow here is about 1 1/2 feet tall, and not as vibrantly colored by summer.

Bees love yarrow! If you plan to have it in your garden, you will be helping the bees and other pollinators.

You can clearly see the flat umbrellas of small flowers in the bottom right of this picture. At the top, you cal see the frilly, feathery leaves.

How to Harvest Yarrow in the Wild

Foraging for fresh herbs is far superior to buying your herbs dried any day. So, if you can forage for Yarrow, I highly recommend it. You can also easily grow it, but let’s talk about the foraging aspect.

I’m big on sustainability, and I always make sure not to overharvest from the wild. Sometimes you’ll see small patches by themselves in the wild, and my rule of thumb is to only harvest about a third or less of the plant. I simply cut about a foot to 18 inches of the stem, as the leaves are useful as well as the flowers.

If you’re cultivating your own yarrow, after a couple of years, you should have a very nice patch to harvest from. The plant grows from underground rhizomes and self-seeding.

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Benefits and Uses of Yarrow

Yarrow has many uses, and I feel lit should be part of every home herbalist’s apothecary! Here are the many ways to use yarrow:

Yarrow to Stop Bleeding

Yarrow is an incredibly fast-acting and effective styptic herb that goes to work to stop bleeding. In fact, it’s one of the ingredients in my recipe for Homemade Quikclot! Quikclot is a staple in most people’s prepper supplies, and it should also be part of your Get Home Bag!

You can read how to use yarrow to stop bleeding in the Quikclot article link above.

Yarrow for Supporting the Circulatory System

Yarrow is incredible for stopping bleeding when used externally, but it also has powerful actions on the internal workings of the circulatory system. It may help lower blood pressure and is gently stimulating to blood flow.

In addition, it’s a strong astringent herb, and for this reason, it’s one that I often include in formulas for working with varicose veins, a lax and flaccid condition in some people.

Yarrow also helps reduce thrombosis, or blood clots, both in general and during menstrual cycles where these are evident.

It’s most definitely an alterative tonic herb when it comes to the circulatory system as it broadly supports a balanced state in this regard.

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Yarrow for Hemorrhoids

Due to its very powerful astringent, tightening and toning qualities, yarrow is an excellent choice for situations like hemorrhoids. Every year, I infuse the oil and use it to make a hemorrhoid salve that’s extremely healing. Other herbs that have a synergistic quality (the parts together are greater than the single) are blackberry leaf and horse chestnut.

Yarrow for Colds and Flus

Yarrow has numerous uses in cold and flu situations.

1) It tightens and soothes the inflammation caused by sore throat.

2) It reduces certain kinds of fevers…specifically the low grade kind that just won’t break. It helps to break these fevers by inducing sweating and raising the internal temperature of the body just enough. Yarrow has a tendency to also help open the pores of the skin, allowing the perspiration to release.

3) Yarrow also as antimicrobial properties that support the body’s immune system response.

Yarrow for Skincare and Wound Healing

You may have noticed that many anti-aging skin products contain astringents. This is because the tightening and toning action firms the skin, helping reduce the appearance of laxity and wrinkles. I love using it in soaps, creams, and toners.

In fact yarrow hydrosol (which you can either make or buy), is one of my favorite skin toners after washing and before moisturizing!

Final Thoughts on Foraging Yarrow

I hope you’ll grow to love yarrow as much as I do! It’s one of my favorite herbs! I know I say this about a LOT of medicinal herbs, but truly, yarrow holds a special place in my heart, and I look forward to it popping up every single late spring and summer!

Here are some other articles you may enjoy:

1) 15 Tips for Successful Wild Harvesting of Edible and Medicinal Herbs

2) Foraging Yarrow, Uses and Benefits (Video)

3) Foraging Cleavers and What to Do with Them (video)

4) Foraging and Harvesting St. John’s Wort (Video)

5) Making Your Own Natural Aspirin with Willow: The Science and the Identification

6) Wild Violet and Yarrow Skin Soothing Soap Recipe

7) 20 Necessities I Never Buy at the Store Anymore and What I Do Instead

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Hugs, Health, and Herbs,

Heidi