Look alikes…

Common yarrow and Queen Anne’s Lace

Being the season of summer blooms, let’s take a quick look at two very common wildflowers that can easily be confused when taking a quick glance…..the Common yarrow and Queen Anne’s Lace. Both have broad white flower heads on long slender stalks. Looking more closely, however, we can see a number of ways to easily distinguish one from the other. First the stalks.

Common yarrow - Kenridge Farm - 6/12/26

Look closely at the stems of the two yarrows above. Yarrows have leafy stems with the leaves alternating all the way up. The leaves resemble feathers and are generally located on relatively smooth stems (except when they aren’t!). Now look at the image below of a closeup of the stem of a Queen Anne’s Lace.

Queens Anne’s Lace stem

Quite different from the yarrow…far fewer leaves to speak of and quite hairy. Remember, “Queen Anne has hairy legs” and you’ll have the secret to telling this wildflower from Common Yarrow. Now let’s look at the Flowers. With Queen Anne’s Lace, the flower head is made up of many tiny white flowers all clustered together at the top of the plant.

Queen Anne’s Lace flower head

The flowers of the Common yarrow are quite different. Each flower head is composed of groups of five “ray flowers” surrounding many tiny disk flowers. It is said that these resemble popcorn. Look carefully and you’ll see where that comparison comes from.

Common yarrow “popcorn flowers”

And so, the next time you see a flat “plateau” of small white flowers sitting on top of a long stem, take a second look to see if your plant has the “hairy legs” of Queen Anne or the multiple “pop corn” flowers surrounded by 5 flat rays indicating that it is a Common yarrow. Turns out they are not all that similar after all!