Botanical.com - A Modern Herbal, by Mrs. M. Grieve

Milfoil, Water

Family: N.O. Haloragaceae

To the same natural order as the Mare's Tail (Haloragaceae) belongs the Water Milfoil, which has the following varieties: SPIKED WATER MILFOIL (Myriophyllum spicatum), an aquatic plant forming a tangled mass of slender, much branched stems; Ieaves, four in a whorl, finely divided into numerous hair-like segments, the whole plant being submerged, except the spikes of inconspicuous greenish flowers, which rise a few inches above the surface.

WHORLED WATER MILFOIL (M. verticillatum) differs from the preceding in having the flowers in whorls at the base of the leaves: alternate-flowered Water Milfoil (M. alterniflorum) has the barren flowers alternately arranged in a short leafless spike, with the fertile flowers about three together, in the axils of the leaves, at its base. Both species are rare.

See MARE'S TAIL.

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Bear in mind "A Modern Herbal" was written with the conventional wisdom of the early 1900's. This should be taken into account as some of the information may now be considered inaccurate, or not in accordance with modern medicine.