Millefolium, commonly known as yarrow (/ˈjæroʊ/) or common yarrow, is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere in Asia and Europe and North America.[2] It has been introduced as a feed for livestock in New Zealand[3] and Australia, where it is a common weed of both wet and dry areas, such as roadsides, meadows, fields and coastal places.[3]
In New Mexico and southern Colorado, it is called plumajillo (Spanish for ‘little feather’) from its leaf shape and texture. In antiquity, yarrow was known as herba militaris, for its use in stanching the flow of blood from wounds.[4] Other common names for this species include gordaldo, nosebleed plant, old man’s pepper, devil’s nettle, sanguinary, milfoil, soldier’s woundwort, thousand-leaf, and thousand-seal.[5]