222 AUTUMN WILD FLOWERS. 



(Thnncia hirtd) . The differences between these yellow 

 flowers are so minute that it is impossible to describe 

 them all in a popular manual. 



In all old greensward, particularly in old church- 

 yards, we find the Milfoil or Yarrow (Achillea mille- 

 folitm), one of the commonest of common plants. Its 

 long leaves, cut into a thousand segments, may be 

 found all the year round, and shortly after midsum- 

 mer it sends up a thick stem, some eight or nine inches 

 high, which bears a close cluster of white flowers, 

 sometimes tinged with lilac, and at other times with 

 pink. It forms an ingredient in herb tobacco, and 

 is sold at all the herb-shops, for its ancient reputation 

 as a vulnerary yet survives. Yarrow ointment is still 

 made, but its old names of soldier's woundwort and 

 knighten milfoil have ceased to be used. There is 

 another and larger variety, in which each flower is as 

 large as a daisy, and perfectly white. This is the 

 Sneezewort Yarrow (Achillea ptarmica). I have only 

 met with this species once or twice in Lancashire, 

 where it is used as tea for headaches. The Yellow- 

 flowered Yarrow (A. serrata) is still more rarely met 

 with. The old name of the yarrow was nose-bleed. 



Another iainous vulnerary, common in meadows and 



