153 ACHILLEA MILLEFOLIUM 



above, 5-toothed, with a few glands on the exterior, yellow; 

 anther- cells without tails at the base, slightly projecting beyond 

 the corolla. Eay flowers about 5, female ; corolla ligulate, the 

 limb short, almost circular, slightly 3-lobed, reflexed, white or 

 pinkish ; style exserted, stigma bifid, with recurved truncate 

 branches, brush-like at the end. Fruit compressed, smooth, 

 shining, without any crown or pappus. 



Habitat. One of the commonest of our wild plants, in dry 

 meadows, and on heaths, downs, waste ground, and roadsides, 

 almost everywhere throughout this country. Abroad it has a 

 wide distribution throughout Europe, Western Asia, and North 

 America, and extends into the Arctic regions of both hemispheres 

 and to the Himalayas. It flowers from July till late in the 

 autumn. The size of the heads and the amount of woolliness is 

 liable to considerable variation, and the ray flowers are not unfre- 

 quently pink or a fine rose-colour, or even purplish in some 

 garden varieties. In alpine localities it is very dwarf and 

 stunted. 



The leaves, though so deeply divided, are usually simple, a 

 very narrow band running down either side of the midrib. 



Byrne, E. Bot., v, p. 57; Hook. f. Stud. Fl., p. 201; Watson, 

 Comp. Cyb. Br., p. 237 ; Gren. & Godr., ii, p. 162; Ledebour, 

 Fl. Boss., ii, p. 531 ; A. Gray, Man. Bot. U. States, p. 265. 



Official Part and Names. ACHILLEA, Yarrow; the leaves and 

 flowering tops (U. S. P. Secondary}. It is not official in the 

 British Pharmacopoeia, or the Pharmacopoeia of India. But the 

 leaves and flowers were formerly official in the Edinburgh Phar- 

 macopoeia. 



General Characters and Composition. The leaves, flowering 

 tops, and herb generally, have, when fresh, an agreeable and 

 somewhat aromatic odour, which they retain in a great degree if 

 carefully dried ; and a bitterish, aromatic, and slightly astringent 

 taste. The aromatic properties are most marked in the flowers, 

 and the astringent and bitter qualities in the leaves. According to 

 Griffith, the plant, which has become naturalised in the northern 



