The Indians took advantage of this and were able to kill large numbers of the feeding doves in areas where the weed flourished. Turkeys, too, are very fond of this seed, hence the name turkey mullein. The Indians bruised the fresh leaves of turkey mullein and applied them as a counter-irritant poultice for internal pain and asthma. The fresh leaves in warm water made a bath or wash used for typhoid and other fevers, A very weak solution was sometimes taken internally as a cure for chills and fever, A poison for tipping arrows also was made from turkey mullein. The minute hairy covering of the stems and leaves of turkey mullein is as irritating as poison oak to many persons.
Exposure produces painful redness and swelling.
Perhaps this action is largely mechanical -since the hairs are easily loosened and readily puncture the skin. Achilles had been a pupil of the centaur Chiron, who was famed for his medical knowledge, and who taught him that yarrow leaves possessed the property to stanch blood from the wounds of arrow or spear. Roman soldiers carried yarrow leaves to stanch blood and sterilize wounds. The plant was carried to central Europe by the tribes who invaded Rome's Mediterranean empire. Britons were using yarrow by the 8th century and in Saxon leech books of 1000 A.D., yarrow appears under the Latin name millefolium or thousand leaves.