Common yarrow is a plant with a long history of use in North America from its uses as a stimulant and fever reducer by Native American tribes to its uses as a blood stauncher in early American battles and by early travelers. Today it’s mostly grown as an ornamental with many different cultivars having been bred over the years.
Common yarrow is a drought tolerant low growing plant that spreads by rhizome and blooms in summer. The White ray and disk flower blooms make an excellent pollinator and have a mild sweet smell. It is used as a companion plant due to it repelling bad insects and attracting beneficial ones such as predatory wasps.
It is also quite tasty as salad green or cooked like spinach with a sweet mildly bitter taste. Where it has been introduced in Australia and New Zealand, it has become a valuable addition to forage mixes; it is highly nutritious, full of minerals due to its deep root system and very drought tolerant.
It is toxic to dogs, cats and horses.