Achillea millefolium white - seeds

Achillea millefolium, commonly known as Yarrow, is a wild plant with white flowers. It is a vigorous perennial plant with light flowering in small corymbs. Its feathery, matte silver-green foliage, is intensely fragrant even when dried. It forms a tall, light and abundant, deciduous or semi-evergreen tuft. From July to September, this very undemanding perennial accompanies summer flowers in sunny and well-drained soil.

Yarrow belongs to the Asteraceae family, native to Europe and Asia Minor. It is a stoloniferous, perennial plant with evergreen leaves and an upright tufted habit from spring onwards. The plant reaches a height of 75 cm when in flower, 20 to 25 cm for the foliage. It spreads over 30 cm and more. The inflorescence is a flat-topped corymb. The remarkably long flowering period extends from June to October. The flower heads have tubular, pale yellow disc florets, while the peripheral florets are ligulate and white. These heads, which appear at the tops of the stems, form flat or slightly rounded corymbs, 7 cm in diameter. They are followed by fruits called achenes. The stem is ridged and hairy. The foliage is deciduous or semi-evergreen, very aromatic even when dried, and finely divided into strips. The leaves are feathery and dark green with silvery highlights.

Yarrow is an edible and medicinal wild plant. It does not have a particularly interesting taste, but it has many properties and virtues. In cooking, it is used as a seasoning or fresh herb, raw or cooked and finely chopped, in syrup or simply as a herbal tea. In the garden, it can be integrated into a rockery, a border, or on a slope, where it can spread to form a ground cover thanks to its stolons. It can then replace the need for mowing in areas with little foot traffic. It can tolerate competition from tree roots, making it a good ground cover in woodland edges. As it is easy to grow and tolerates drought well, it is perfect for the base of shrub roses or bordering a sunny flower bed.

According to Pliny, a Roman naturalist from the first century AD, its name comes from Achilles, a hero from Greek mythology, who used it to heal wounds. Achilles is said to have discovered the healing power of this plant during the Trojan War when he treated a wound following the advice of Venus.
The plant has recognised medicinal properties: it is hemostatic, the leaves are healing, and the flowers have a stimulating, tonic and, in high concentrations, fever-reducing action.