Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)

Available either as a dried herb or herbal tincture.

Please note this is a nutritional, functional horse food supplement and not veterinary medicine. See Dr Kellon's Horse Sense - 'Nutrition is not 'Alternative' Therapy.

Tincture

Our human-grade, certified organic tinctures give you a ready-to-absorb potent source of phytonutrients at the highest-strength available, for immediate absorption straight into the bloodstream and to the body’s cells.

100% certified organic pure tincture: Achillea millefolium (Yarrow) Flowers, Organic Grown, Distilled/Infused 1:3 35%

Feed Guide

• Horse - 30-40ml / Pony - 15-20ml, daily in feed.
• Always shake the bottle to disperse any sediment.
• 3-year shelf-life.

Dried Herb

Produced to ecological standards and free from agro-chemicals.

Certified organic dried herb: Achillea millefolium (Yarrow) Flowers, Organic Cultivated *, Origin UK
* Grown especially for us organically and biodynamically by Organic Herb Trading Co. https://www.biodynamics.com/what-is-biodynamics

Feed Guide

• 5g/100kg bodyweight per day, thus for an average 500kg horse add 25g daily to feed.
• 1-year shelf-life.

Functional Nutritional Value

Constituents: Volatile oil (e.g., α- and β-pinene, borneol, bornyl acetate, camphor, alpha-caryophyllene, 1,8 cineole [Hoffmann, 2003], thujone [Wood, 2009]), sesquiterpene lactones (e.g., achillicin, achillifolin, achillin, millifin, millifolide), flavonoids (e.g., apigenin, isorhamnetin, luteolin, rutin), tannins, phenolic acids (e.g., caffeic acid, salicylic acid), alkaloids (e.g., achiceine, achillein, moschatine, stachydrine, trigonelline), coumarins (Hoffmann, 2003), achilleic acid (aconitic acid), potassium, and calcium salts, vitamin C, bitters, and sterols.

NB. Our range of botanicals are all grown, harvested and dried without the use of agri-chemicals, non-irradiated and GMO free - see our Quality page for Quality Management & Certification Documents. Laboratory tested for identification and compliance to the British and European Pharmacopoeia standards, and are human grade.

Please be aware that if you're purchasing our dried botanicals for human use, our dried range is cut to appropriate sizes for feeding to horses.

More ...

It’s always difficult to know where to start with yarrow, for the simple reason that it’s so useful for so many different issues - yarrow really requires an entire book for itself!

Yes it’s a common weed that grows freely in grassland, chalk land, roadsides – go on any walk or ramble and you’ll likely see yarrow. And yet it’s an incredible healing herb! Otherwise known as Achillea millefolium , is not only antimicrobial, relieves pain and stops bleeding, but it’s probably most famous and most ancient use is as a wound healer.

In use since before the ancient Greeks and Egyptians, yarrow’s genus name Achillea hails from Achilles, the Greek hero who allegedly gained his renowned invulnerability when his mother dipped him in a bath of yarrow tea at birth (all but the heel by which she held him), and who then used yarrow on the wounds of his friends. Yarrow was used in the same way right up to the American Civil War to staunch soldiers’ wounds and support the body’s natural process, hence its common names: woundwort, soldiers’ woundwort, staunch weed, nosebleed, and carpenter’s weed.

Plus, yarrow is so good at stopping excess bleeding that it is often used for nose bleeds. Pharma companies have even tried to make drugs from yarrow for this purpose, but the plant itself is just as effective, and a whole lot cheaper. In medieval herbal books, yarrow was well known as a styptic , as in astringent herbs that can be applied to the skin directly to the wound to stop bleeding.

These days yarrow is considered such an essential herb that no first aid kit is complete without it. This humble plant is antiseptic, and a vulnerary, febrifuge, diaphoretic, aromatic bitter, and blood mover, and ... it’s one of my favourites.

Moving on to yarrow's next claim to fame, and it's its ability to make us sweat. When fever is building, drinking hot yarrow tea can help it to break by relaxing the circulation and the pores of the skin, allowing us to sweat freely and literally ridding the body of infection. The classic folk formula for colds and flu was yarrow, peppermint and elderflower, infused and drunk in as hot a tea as possible. Then the patient was wrapped up warmly with a hottie at their feet, and waited to sweat the infection out.

Next up, we get to yarrow’s affinity for the blood and circulation - it’s thought of as the ‘master of the blood’ as it can modulate one of the most vital components of the body. It tones the blood vessels at the same time as dilating capillaries and moving/regulating the blood flow, and can thicken or thin the blood to address various complaints such as bruising, wounds, haemorrhaging, and clotting; its tonifying action makes it particularly useful for treating varicose veins and haemorrhoids.

As a cardiac tonic, yarrow can also ease hypertension by lowering blood pressure through dilation of peripheral cells and taking pressure off the heart by relaxing the arteries, with its astringent action toning the blood vessels and circulatory system. Yarrow really is a great equaliser - it moves where necessary and tones where needed.

Moving on to digestion, and being bitter, pungent and aromatic means that yarrow is particularly useful for stimulating appetite, enhancing nutrient absorption, and toning the digestive organs to get the juices flowing. Herbalist Matthew Wood talks about using it for colitis and diverticulitis because of its ability to tone and heal the mucus membranes of the digestive tract. It was also an old folk remedy for bloody diarrhoea and dysentery.

It’s also antispasmodic, so helps ease stomach cramps by relaxing the smooth muscles of the small intestine, as well as also being useful for digestive imbalances such as constipation, diarrhea, colic, dyspepsia, gastritis, enteritis, and hyperacidity. A mug of yarrow tea can go a long way to help the gut system.

The reproductive and urinary systems get a look-in as well, and this is the part I particularly remember from my herbalist training, courtesy of Austrian writer and herbalist Maria Treben (1907-1991) who considered yarrow “ first and foremost… a herb for women ”. Abbe Kneipp, one of the forefathers of the naturopathic medicine movement, also said “ women could be spared many troubles if they just took yarrow tea from time to time. ” I’ve never forgotten that ;-).

Yarrow is a wonderful herb for the reproductive systems because of its ability to staunch heavy bleeding - it’s considered one of the best agents for the relief of heavy menstrual flows, while its relaxing, antispasmodic nature is also helpful for menstrual cramps. To ease premenstrual syndrome and menstrual cramps, a combination of yarrow and agnus castus can provide potent antispasmodic relief, which is why we use both herbs together in our MellowMare blend.

Yarrow is also a renowned urinary antiseptic and, when drunk as a warm or cool (rather than hot) infusion, the diuretic properties are emphasised making it a useful remedy for cystitis and UTIs. It’s also been praised for helping cases of urinary incontinence with Culpepper informing us that it “ helps such as cannot hold their water .”

Let's go back in time and the earliest documented mentions of the traditional uses of yarrow, which include the works of Dioscorides, a Greek physician, pharmacologist and botanist, and Pliny the Elder, a Roman statesman and naturalist. Dioscorides considered yarrow exceptional for fistulas, ulcers, inflammation and dysentery, and suggested its use to stop bleeding from wounds or from abnormally heavy or prolonged menstruation ( menorrhagia ). Pliny used yarrow for bleeding, including excessive menstruation, earaches, toothaches, and loose stools.

And … just in case anyone already knows and is wondering why I haven’t mentioned it yet, here it is. The major yarrow coup was when pollen grains were found in Neanderthal burial sites dated to be at least 50,000 years old.

Yarrow is a true plant of legend, and in the words of Richard Lawrence Hool (1922), “ yarrow will not fail you ”. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that yarrow grows prolifically in fields and gardens and makes itself so available to us.

We blend yarrow into our BreathePlus , GutBitters , MellowMare , PollenTonic , and yarrow’s essential oil is an integral part of our DermaCalm Gel.

Safety

• Yarrow is not recommended during pregnancy due to its emmenagogue action.
• Its safety has not been established for use during nursing.