Yarrow.Achillea Millefolium.Milfoil.
Found from July to September, in dry fields and roadsides.
The stalk, which is very erect in bearing, grows to be about 2 feet high usually; it is single, or branches near the top, and leafy; of a stout fibre difficult to pluck, round and grooved, and covered with wool which causes the green color to look whitish.
The leaf is long and narrow, deeply and finely cut into slender line-like divisions, these being also cleft 3 or 5 times which gives it a fringy appearance; with a strong midrib, and covered with white wool on the underside. The color is gray-green. It is clasping, and the arrangement is alternate, and often crowded into little tufts along the stems.
The flower is very small; pale brown, or bright cheese-colored yellow; crowded into a small thimble-topped head, and surrounded by 3 to 5 small, oblong, white rays, with finely notched tips. The head is held in a deep, pale green, or nearly white, cup, and set on a slender, leafy, white, or pale green stem. The heads are arranged in terminal clusters.
Generally the flower-cluster is noticeably flat-topped, even the small groups of the side branches strive to reach a uniform level with the central cluster. A friar-like gravity of hue shows this plant to be a typical New Englander, thriving with sturdy content on sterile soil, and sending forth a wholesome aromatic odor. In certain localities the rays are tinted pink, almost crimson.