I've found that dropping a few leaves of yarrow into the compost actually helps it break down really fast. When the boys mow the lawn I scatter a few leaves on the tall grass and it gets chopped up by the mower as it passes. As I typed, I wondered if I was just believing a spurious tale, so I found another source besides myself (thought it also might be spurious) to back me up. Here, under utilitarian uses.
Eiseley