How do you recognise Sneezewort (Achillea ptarmica)?

Leaf

Marie Portas, Tela Botanica · CC BY-SA 2.0

Sneezewort

Achillea ptarmica L.

Family: Asteraceae

30 to 80 cm tall

Damp meadows, gardens, riverbanks, moist soils

Flowering: July – September

Full sun

Part shade

Hardy to -30°C

❓ How do you recognise this plant?

Its dried leaves, ground to a powder, used to cause sneezing (they were used as snuff), hence its name. A. ptarmica has undivided, narrowly lanceolate, toothed leaves; A. millefolium has deeply pinnate leaves that are much more finely cut.

🍃 Leaves

Narrow, linear, finely toothed, bright green

🌸 Flowers

White flower heads 12 to 17 mm across, gathered in a corymb; the species itself does not have double flowers (unlike some garden cultivars).

🍎 Fruits

Small dry achenes

🪵 Bark

Rhizomatous perennial with upright stems.

🗺️ Distribution

Europe, western Asia; found in damp meadows and ditches in France, more localised than yarrow.

🐝 Value for pollinators

Small white flower heads grouped in corymbs, nectar-bearing, attractive to bees and hoverflies in late summer.

✂️ Horticultural uses

Damp borders, pond edges; cultivars with double white flowers used in bouquets.

⚠️ Possible toxicity

No notable known toxicity.

🌱 Known cultivars

'The Pearl'

The cultivar 'The Pearl', very widely sold in garden centres, differs from the wild species in its fully double white flowers like small round pompons, whereas the species itself bears only single flowers with a visible yellow centre.