Is anyone good at identifying plants? 😬

Jewitch · July 9, 2021, 3:32am

Hey, everyone! I hope you all are doing well and enjoying your week!

In case I haven’t mentioned it enough already (I’m excited about it!), I recently discovered that I have yarrow growing in my yard. I’m 99% sure I’ve identified it correctly, so I’ve harvested some and dried it for use in things like this Divination Oil. I’d also like to potentially use it internally, but I’d be more comfortable if I got a second opinion on the identification of it.

If any of you are familar with identifying yarrow (Achillea milefolium), could you please let me know if you agree that this is properly identified as such? Many thanks in advance for your input!

Francisco · July 9, 2021, 4:51am

You have yarrow! You can tell by the leaves which look like feathers. In Spanish, yarrow is called plumajillo which means “little feather coat”.

There are other plants that look like yarrow (one of them is poisonous, poison hemlock) but if you look at the leaves they are completely different. Poison hemlock’s leaves look like fern leaves. Pictures for reference:

Poison hemlock:

Common yarrow:

Let us know what powerful concoctions you craft with Achilles’s plant!

Sarafeena_Sage · July 9, 2021, 5:21am

I just made Yarrow Essence 2 days ago! I grew a red variety in the front flower bed and I found some white growing in my back yard under the Rose of Sharon tree!
I have some planted in a pot I started from seeds this spring too!

Such an awesome find. It is good for so many things!

Hope you enjoy making something with yarrow!

christina4 · July 9, 2021, 10:15am

Yarrow!!! They look like little desert rose selenite!! I’ve never seen yarrow but I need some!!! Mind sending some my way

christina4 · July 9, 2021, 10:17am

That’s awesome that you found some yarrow!!! And, it is good for so many things!!!

Sarafeena_Sage · July 9, 2021, 2:16pm

Once you get it started growing it spreads! I find new baby plants every year now! I really like the red variety, its very pretty. I wish I would’ve took a picture before I cut it to dry.
Its very easy to grow. I found some growing in a dry, rocky, horrible spot and it has came back 4 years in that spot. The former owner here planted a great variety of great plants on this property, I keep finding plants I didn’t know I had!
I would send you some seeds but I planted them all! If find some I’ll let you know

Jewitch · July 9, 2021, 7:01pm

If you lived nearby, I might let you come pick some at your own risk, but I don’t want to take the risk of sending anything that could potentially be toxic (I’m still super new to herbs and finding wild plants I can use) haha

Jewitch · July 9, 2021, 7:05pm

Yay! Thank you

I was careful to check for poison hemlock because I know we had some growing in our front yard, and I check all the stems for purple splotches, but I think I’m still a bit too paranoid to use the yarrow I harvested internally – Now that I know exactly what I’m collecting, I’ll be extra careful to make sure that I’m only getting what I’m intending to (Side note: I read somewhere on the Internet that it only takes about 7-8 poison hemlock leaves to be fatal to an adult male So that has me quite paranoid )

christina4 · July 10, 2021, 10:01am

Lol that’s alright but very kind of you!!! ,

christina4 · July 10, 2021, 10:02am

That’s totally fine but it’s the thought that counts!!

kristina9 · July 10, 2021, 11:48am

@Jewitch I know Im super late to this post but I cheat when it comes to plants. I have an app from google play, (I just recently discovered I have a green thumb) but the app is called Picture This. Its amazing its teaches you everything about each plant. When to water how often what type of sun what may be killing it eating it etc.

Just an fyi incase someone new like me to the green witchery needs a helper.

Jewitch · July 10, 2021, 12:34pm

Those kinds of apps are amazing I use the Seek and iNaturalist apps:heart_eyes: I just have a hard time trusting technology though. so I use them as a starting point to get a good idea of what the plants are and then do lots more research (especially if I’m planning on eating the plant in question)

Kasandra · July 10, 2021, 2:20pm

I was gonna say Queen Anne’s Lace, but then I remembered that it and Yarrow look a lot alike.

Edit:

From what I can see the clusters of flowers on Queen Anne’s Lace are wider, wispy-er.

Image From Pinterest

When I first watched the video on Yarrow, I thought we had a lot of it growing in my area. Now, I realize it’s just Queen Anne’s Lace.