Yarrow Flowers

Description

• PLANT:

Yarrow, Achilea millefolium L, is a plant with various medicinal uses and health benefits, used both internally and externally. It is a perennial herbaceous plant native to Eurasia that belongs to the botanical family Compositae or Asteraceae,
It grows in meadows and along roadsides, generally in sunny locations with fresh but well-drained soil. Native to Eurasia, it has been introduced elsewhere, including North America, Australia and New Zealand, as livestock feed.
Yarrow has various other names: cientoenrama, maquilea, espuma de la leche, hierba del carpintero, hierba de Aquiles, colchón de pobre and milefolio.

• COMPOSITION:

It contains essential oils, bitter principles, coumarins, flavonoids, sterols and phenolic acids, tannins, coumarins and vitamin C.
It is an important source of bioactive metabolites that account for its extensive pharmacological and ethnobotanical use. These include essential oil (0,3-1%), which can contain more than 20% (20-50%) chamazulene.
There are chemical races in which chromosome number correlates with the presence of azulenes in the essential oil: these appear only in tetraploid plants (2n=36) and are absent (with rare exceptions) in hexaploid plants (2n=54). The composition of the essential oil also varies according to the plant's karyotype. The main components of essential oil containing azulenes, apart from chamazulene, are beta-pinene, alpha-pinene (in smaller proportions) and caryophyllene. Those of essential oil without azulenes are camphor, sabinene, 1,8-cineole, alpha-pinene and isoartemisiacetone.

• COSMETIC PROPERTIES AND USES:

It has anti-inflammatory, wound-healing, antihaemorrhagic, astringent, diuretic and hypotensive properties, promotes blood circulation, and is antihaemorrhoidal, bactericidal, antispasmodic in the respiratory and digestive systems, anthelmintic (eliminates intestinal worms) and mildly hypoglycaemic. These properties provide benefits such as regulating oily and acne-prone skin, speeding up wound healing when applied in compresses, and improving circulation, varicose veins and haemorrhoids through sitz baths.
It is also a natural remedy for reducing fever by adding its infusion to a tub of lukewarm water.
These benefits can be obtained by applying an infusion of the plant or the juice of the fresh plant locally to clean wounds, burns or haemorrhoids. Another external use of yarrow is in sitz baths with the infusion for haemorrhoids or vaginal itching. It is also used as a gargle and for oral hygiene.
Its consumption is not advised during pregnancy, and it should not be consumed for more than 2 consecutive weeks.