(Siberian yarrow)
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Photo of Achillea sibirica by Jacob Frank
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Achillea sibirica (Siberian yarrow) is a tall forb in the aster family (Asteraceae) with long, incised leaves and many small white flowers. Siberian yarrow grows in moist to wet lowland meadows and woods from a long rootstock, the stem branches above, reaching 20-80 cm tall. Leaves are
linear-
lanceolate, slightly
toothed to almost divided, without a
petiole. The
inflorescences are rounded to flat-topped
corymbs, usually with several borne on each plant. Flower heads have white disk flowers and white
ligules, each head 5-8 mm across. The
subtending bracts have dark to light transparent margins. The small fruits are an indehiscent
capsule with an attached, winged
calyx to catch the wind. Siberian yarrow looks very similar to boreal yarrow(
Achillea millefolium ssp.
borealis), but the leaves of that species are finely divided, not merely incised.
Siberian yarrow is a perennial plant. It flowers in summer and releases its fruits in fall before senescence.
The genus
Achillea is insect pollinated, most likely by syrphid flies (
Andersson 1991). The small fruits are an indehiscent
capsule with an attached, winged
calyx to catch the wind. Plants can also spread vegetatively.
Yarrow is widely used as a medicinal plant, owing to the variety of biologically active compounds it produces. All parts are used to address numerous ailments. Treatment forms are often as a tea or poultice for skin injuries and infections, coughing and chest congestion, recovery from childbirth, and to stop bleeding (Garibaldi 1999). Yup'ik elders disagree about whether this plant is as effective medicinally as Achillea millifolium subsp. borealis (Jernigan et al. 2015).
Disclaimer for Known Uses.
Siberian yarrow is an amphi-Beringian species that occurs in scattered locations as far south as Minnesota in North America, and across Siberia in Asia. This species is confined to the lowland basins of central and southern Alaska reaching the west coast of the state. Siberian yarrow occur in Denali scattered in the northern boreal lowlands.
Details are shown in the Plots & Charts found at right, depicting recent Denali data.
Siberian yarrow occurs only at low elevations, with site elevations ranging from 122 to 528 m, and an average occurrence at 204 m elevation in our dataset. Siberian yarrow occurs only in level areas with slope angles for this species ranging from only 0 to 5 degrees with a mean of 1 degree slope.
Details are shown in the Plots & Charts found at right. For more on how to interpret these figures, visit Understanding Data Presented.
Moist to wet sites in the lowlands.
