Achillea (redirected from Achillaea)

Achillea 

(yarrow), a genus of plants of the family Compositae. The plants are perennial herbs with entire, pinnatilobate, or pinnatisect leaves. The inflorescences are small many-flowered heads, which are for the most part gathered into a common corymb. Solitary heads are rare. The ray flowers are pistillate and ligulate; their coloration is white, pink, red, or yellow. The disk flowers are bisexual and tubular. The achenes have no pappus.

There are more than 100 species of yarrow (according to other data, 200), distributed mainly in the temperate zone of the northern hemisphere. Species are especially numerous in mountainous areas and in the Mediterranean region. The USSR has 45 species. The common yarrow (A. millefolium) grows mainly in meadows and along forests in the forest zone, in steppes, on slopes, and along roads and fields. The leaves and inflorescences contain essential oil. An infusion and liquid extract from the leaves and inflorescences of the common yarrow and closely related species are used as styptics and as ingredients in a tea that functions as an appetite stimulant.

REFERENCE

Atlas lekarstvennykh rastenii SSSR. Moscow, 1962.