Common Yarrow
Common yarrow (Achillea millefolium) is a perennial flowering plant that goes by many names, like gordaldo, poor man's pepper, and thousand leaf
In the southwestern U.S., you'll hear it referred to as a plumajillo, Spanish for "little feather" due to the feathery shape and lacy texture of the plant's aromatic leaves
Yarrow can grow to reach more than 3 feet tall during the course of a growing season, and it bears an umbrella-like canopy of clustered white to pink mini blooms on long, slender stems
It is an erect, herbaceous, perennial plant that produces one to several stems 0.2–1 metre (8–40 inches) in height, and has a spreading rhizomatous growth form
The fern-like leaves appear spirally and evenly along the stem, with the largest and most petiolate towards the base
The plant has a sweet scent similar to that of chrysanthemums, so powerful that it may be irritating to some
Drought-tolerant common yarrow grows well in poor soil
Several cavity-nesting birds, including the common starling, use yarrow to line their nests
Yarrow has been found with Neanderthal burials, suggesting its association with human species dates to at least 60,000 years ago
The genus name Achillea is derived from mythical Greek character Achilles
In the Classical Greek epic Iliad, Homer tells of the centaur Chiron, who conveyed herbal secrets to his human pupils and taught Achilles to use yarrow on the battlegrounds of Troy
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