Yarrow: The Viking Healer’s Herb of choice

Yarrow, known to modern botanists as Achillea millefolium, grows wild across the north. Its feathery leaves and white blossoms once helped Norse healers to staunch bleeding and treat injuries. It was gathered in summer to clean wounds, calm inflammation, and soothe fevers.

Pink yarrow

They come in white, pink and purple.

Look for clusters of tiny blooms and fern-like leaves on a long stem

(Forgive the blueberry stained hand)

I love it in tea, especially with a spoonful of honey. I’m lucky to have it growing all around my home. If I’m stung by nettles or burned by the fire, yarrow is my go-to remedy to cool and calm irritated skin.

In Viking-age herbal tradition, yarrow tea was brewed from dried flowers and leaves. The infusion’s gentle bitterness supported digestion. Today we know yarrow contains natural antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory compounds that help the body resist infection. For women specifically, Yarrow is known to soothe menstrual cramps, and traditionally believed to stimulate female fertility.

It is proven to have been used by the Norse both as medicine and to flavor alcoholic beverages.

The herb’s story reaches beyond Scandinavia. In North America it has been used for possibly thousands of years, for all the same reasons as the Vikings (except alcohol). In Greek legend, Achilles treated his soldiers’ wounds with yarrow during the Trojan War, and the plant bears his name today. Across centuries and cultures, yarrow remains a symbol of endurance and healing.

Kilda, the heroine of Talismans of Desire, uses yarrow in an intimate healing scene. Volvas like her would have kept the herb close at hand, gathering it in summer, drying it, and storing it through the winter in their pouches and healing satchels.

Sources:

Historical, archaeological and linguistic evidence test the phylogenetic inference of Viking-Age plant uses, by Teixidor-Toneu, I., Jordan, P., Kjaergaard, P., & Riede, F. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, vol. 376, no. 1828, 2021, article 20200086. Royal Society Publishing.

Yarrow (Achillea millefolium L.): A Neglected Panacea? A Review of Ethnobotany, Bioactivity, and Biomedical Research1, by Applequist, Wendy L., and Daniel E. Moerman. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, vol. 133, no. 2, 2011, pp. 2–11. Elsevier.

Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) as Medicine, by Barkwell, Lawrence J. (Louis Riel Institute / Métis Museum).

Yarrow and its Medicinal Benefits, by Chris Hope, Permaculture

Achillea millefolium, Washington Native Plant Society (WNPS) Native Plant Directory.