Achillea ageratum, also known as sweet yarrow, sweet-Nancy, English mace, or sweet maudlin, is a flowering plant in the sunflower family. it was originally native to Switzerland, before spreading across Europe (to Portugal, Spain, France, England, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Croatia and Romania), and Morocco.[1] In the United States the plant is cultivated in the state of New York for its pleasant fragrance and sparingly naturalized in a few places outside its native range.[2] [3]
In the Middle Ages it was used as a strewing herb to repel insects such as moths, lice and ticks and spread a good smell in private rooms. The leaves can be chopped and used raw as a herb, or added with other herbs to soups and stews. Modern uses of the herb include its use as a flavouring, as a dried flower, and as an ornamental herb.
The species was first given a species name by Carl Linnaeus and published in his Species Plantarum 1753. Achillea is a reference to the Greek hero Achilles, who was trained to used herbs by his mentor, the centaur Chiron. The flowers last for a relatively long period, hence the inclusion of ageratum in the species name.
The plant grows to a height of 12to. A hardy perennial, it can be identified by its narrow and serrated leaves, and clusters of small, cream-coloured flowers.
