Yellow Yarrow Yard

For the record, I also thought about writing this post around "Yummy Yellow Yolks," because I'm a fan of eggs. Yarrow is just too special not to write about, however. My mother used to plant yellow yarrow when we lived on the farm, and my mother's absolute favorite color is yellow. Whenever I see the bright sunny color, I think of her.

When I looked up yellow yarrow for this post, I was met with a surprise: yellow yarrow is not what we thought it was, at least not officially. In fact, there are two different types of yellow yarrow that get confused. The one that my mother used to plant is actually officially known as fernleaf yarrow for its common name, and Achillea filipendulina as its scientific name. It is always yellow.

Fernleaf yarrow, or Achillea filipendulina
(the kind my mother used to plant)
Source: Wikipedia

But there are two types of Yarrow that are always yellow, and only one of them is officially known by the common name yellow yarrow, or golden yarrow: Eriophyllum confertiflorum. Both types of yellow yarrow are in the Asteraceae family, commonly known as the daisy or sunflower family.

There is also a plant commonly known as ... guess what? Common yarrow, or simply, yarrow. The scientific name of common yarrow is Achillea millefolium, and it is always white in color. Wait, it's about to get even more confusing!

Eriophyllum confertiflorum:
copyright by Curtis Clark,
from Wikipedia

The yarrow that is known as yellow or golden yarrow isn't really known by any other common names. But that yarrow isn't actually commonly thought of as yellow yarrow, at least around California, where yellow yarrow is actually a native. When you mention yellow yarrow, most people think of the variety planted by my mother, which is native to southeastern Europe.

Achillea millefolium,
from Wikipedia user O. Pichard

And then the confusion deepens, because common yarrow and fernleaf yarrow are commonly known by many other names, and some of those names overlap. Common yarrow is also known as yarrow, gordaldo, nosebleed plant, old man's pepper, devil's nettle, sanguinary, milfoil, soldier's woundwort, thousand-leaf, and thousand-seal. Fernleaf yarrow is also known as yarrow, milfoil, and nosebleed.

See how one of the other fernleaf common names is simply "yarrow"? That's because many people think that all yarrow is yellow like the yarrow my mother used to plant. Some people don't realize that white yarrow even exists. Perhaps that is because white yarrow doesn't really stand out, while yellow yarrow bursts with color.

Bright yellow yarrow is a plant that everyone will notice right away. That happy yellow color is enough to brighten anyone's day. It's gorgeous and brings a smile to your face, just like my mother.