Achillea is a genus of about 85 flowering plant

Flowering plant

The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...

s, in the family Asteraceae

Asteraceae

The Asteraceae or Compositae , is an exceedingly large and widespread family of vascular plants. The group has more than 22,750 currently accepted species, spread across 1620 genera and 12 subfamilies...

, commonly referred to as yarrow. They occur in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 and temperate areas of Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

. A few grow in North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

. These plants typically have frilly, hairy, aromatic leaves

Leaf

A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....

.

These plants show large, flat clusters of small flower

Flower

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...

s at the top of the stem. These flowers can be white, yellow, orange, pink or red.

The genus was named for the Greek mythological

Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...

 character Achilles

Achilles

In Greek mythology, Achilles was a Greek hero of the Trojan War, the central character and the greatest warrior of Homer's Iliad.Plato named Achilles the handsomest of the heroes assembled against Troy....

. According to the Iliad

Iliad

The Iliad is an epic poem in dactylic hexameters, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles...

, Achilles' soldiers used yarrow to treat wounds http://www.killerplants.com/whats-in-a-name/20020802.asp, hence some of its common names such as allheal and bloodwort.

Achillea species are used as food plants by the larva

Larva

A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...

e of some Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera is a large order of insects that includes moths and butterflies . It is one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies, skipper butterflies, and moth-butterflies...

 species - see list of Lepidoptera that feed on Achillea.

Cultivation

A number of species are popular garden

Garden

A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The garden can incorporate both natural and man-made materials. The most common form today is known as a residential garden, but the term garden has...

 plants. Hybrids such as Coronation Gold and Moonshine are yellow varieties.

Species

• Achillea abrotanoides
• Achillea acuminate (Ldb.)Sch.Bip.
• Achillea ageratifolia
  Achillea ageratifolia
  Achillea ageratifolia, commonly called yarrow or greek yarrow, is a herbaceous perennial flowering plant native to Greece and Bulgaria. It is a highly variable species, with three recognized subspecies that have white flowers. They have erect, simple, some-what woody based stems....
  
  : Balkan Yarrow, Greek Yarrow
• Achillea aegyptiaca
  Achillea aegyptiaca
  Achillea aegyptiaca is ornamental plant in the Asteraceae family native to Europe. This is an evergreen species. It has been grown for more than 200 years in English gardens, and originally came, as its name implies, from Egypt...
  
  : Egyptian Yarrow
• Achillea ageratum : Sweet Yarrow, Sweet Nancy, English Mace
• Achillea albicaulis
• Achillea aleppica
• Achillea alpina Linnea
• Achillea ambrosiaca
• Achillea arabica
• Achillea armenorum
• Achillea asiatica Serg.
• Achillea asplenifolia
• Achillea atrata
• Achillea aucheri
• Achillea barbeyana
• Achillea barrelieri
• Achillea biebersteinii
• Achillea brachyphylla
• Achillea bulgarica
• Achillea cartilaginea : Silver Spray Yarrow
• Achillea chrysocoma
• Achillea clavennae : Silvery Yarrow
• Achillea clusiana
• Achillea coarctata
• Achillea collina
• Achillea cretica
• Achillea crithmifolia
• Achillea cucullata
• Achillea decolorans = synonym of Achillea ageratum Garden Mace
• Achillea depressa
• Achillea distans : Alps Yarrow
• Achillea erba-rotta : Musk Milfoil
• Achillea falcata

• Achillea filipendulina
  Achillea filipendulina
  Achillea filipendulina is an ornamental plant in the Asteraceae family.This plant grows high, and the foliage, though fern-like, has an untidy appearance, from the irregular way in which it is disposed. It is herbaceous, and comes from the Caucasus...
  
  Fernleaf Yarrow
• Achillea fraasii : Filigree Yarrow
• Achillea fragantissima
• Achillea lewisii
• Achillea goniocephala
• Achillea grandiflora
• Achillea griseovirens
• Achillea gypsicola
• Achillea holosericea

• Achillea horanszkyi
• Achillea huteri
• Achillea kelleri
• Achillea kotschyi
• Achillea lanulosa : White Yarrow
• Achillea Ledebourii Heimerl
• Achillea ligustica : Ligurian Yarrow
• Achillea lingulata
• Achillea macrophylla : Broad-leaved Yarrow
• Achillea membranacea
• Achillea micrantha

• Achillea millefolium : Milfoil, Yarrow, Allheal, Thousand-leaf, Bloodwort, Carpenter's Grass, Cammock, Green arrow, Gordoloba, Plumajillo, Sneezeweed, Nosebleed, Green Adder's Mouth, Soldier's Woundwort, Dog Daisy, Old-man's-pepper
• Achillea monocephala
• Achillea moschata : Musk Milfoil, Forest Lady's Herb
• Achillea nana : Dwarf Alpine Yarrow
• Achillea nobilis
  Achillea nobilis
  Achillea nobilis is a flowering plant in the Asteraceae family.The species has creamy-whitish yellow colored flowers, and resemble 'Common Yarrow' except with more flowers that are smaller and foliage which is much finer with thin lacy compound leaves...
  
  : Noble Yarrow, Creamy Yarrow
• Achillea ochroleuca
• Achillea odorata
• Achillea oxyloba
• Achillea oxyodonta
• Achillea pannonica
• Achillea phrygia
• Achillea ptarmica : Sneezewort, Sneezeweed, Seezewort Yarrow

• Achillea ptarmicoides Maxim
• Achillea pyrenaica
• Achillea roseo-alba
• Achillea rupestris
• Achillea santolina
• Achillea schischkinii
• Achillea sedelmeyeriana
• Achillea setacea
• Achillea sibirica
  Achillea sibirica
  Achillea sibirica is a plant in the daisy family, Asteraceae.-Description:Achillea sibirica is an herbaceous plant with alternate, pinnately compound leaves, on green stems. The flowers are white or pink, borne in summer. The plants are hardy in Zones 3-10 in full sun and are often about 2 feet...
  
  : Siberian Yarrow
• Achillea sintenisii
• Achillea sipikorensis
• Achillea sulpherea
• Achillea talagonica
• Achillea tagetea

• Achillea tenuifolia Lam.
  • Achillea santolina L.
• Achillea tomentosa : Woolly Yarrow
• Achillea tzsonii
• Achillea umbellata
• Achillea vermicularis
• Achillea vermiculata
• Achillea virescens
• Achillea wilhelmsii
• Achillea wilsoniana : Wilson's Yarrow

Hybrids

• Achillea filipendulina x A. clypeolata - Coronation Gold
• Achillea clypeolata x A. tagetea - Moonshine Yarrow

External links

• Achillea by Flower-JPEG - Photos and info about it
• Why was yarrow named for Achilles? (killerplants.com)