AST year’s heatwave and drought reduced parched lawns to a uniform brown, but one species of spindly weed continued to rise here and there above the desolation, its dark-green feathery leaves and bunches of tiny white or pinkish flowers defying the arid conditions. Native across Scandinavia, Europe and Asia and now found around the globe, common yarrow is as tough as it is prolific. If it is mown, its base leaves lie flat and its stem regrows. Left to reach its natural height at the wayside and field edges, it may attain a good 2ft. In times past, this persistence was gratefully acknowledged, for common yarrow was a plant of considerable worth and figured prominently as a herbal remedy throughout recorded history and probably far earlier. Soil analysis at a Neanderthal burial site in a remote cave
