COMxAION YARROW, or MILFOIL. 



AcJtillcra millefolium. 



Ciass Synqenesia. Order Superflua. Nat, Ord. Composite. 

 Compound Flowers. 



All the summer long this plant is to be 

 found by every wayside, and on almost every 

 pasture of our land, witli its clusters of white 

 or pinkish flowers, and its pretty leaf cut into 

 many segments. Its foliage is slightly pun- 

 gent, and hence its familiar name of Old 

 Man's Pepper. The Icelandic appellation of 

 this plant, Fall himall, Field hop, seems to 

 imply that it has been used instead of hops 

 in that island, as it still is in some parts of 

 Sweden. In these days, however, the Ice- 

 landers only use it as the Highlanders do, for 

 an ingredient in an ointment which they apply 

 to wounds ; and its old English name of 

 Nose-bleed marks its ancient use in oiu- 

 countr}' as a vulnerary. Professor Burnett 

 observes, that the good women of the Orkney 

 Islands hold iMilfoil tea in high repute for its 

 power of dispelling melancholy. It is a 

 favourite flower in the gardens of the Isle of 

 Madeira, while the hills and vales of that 

 beautiful land are bright with flowers which 

 om* gardeners prize highly. 



