Achillea Millefolium

bio:species:achillea_millefolium

Achillea millefolium — yarrow. Asteraceae, order Asterales. Characters: leaves finely cut two or three times over into narrow segments, so the whole leaf reads as a feather rather than a blade; stems tough, furrowed, faintly downy; the heads small and numerous, carried in a flat-topped cluster that the plant holds level like a tray; each head has about five short white — occasionally pink — ray florets round a cream disc; the plant spreads by creeping rhizomes, so a patch is often one individual; aromatic when crushed. Setting: dry and moderately dry grassland, meadows, road verges, pasture. Range: across the Northern Hemisphere, and widely naturalised beyond it. Naming: Achillea for Achilles, who is said in the old herbals to have carried it; millefolium, a thousand leaves, for the dissection of the foliage.