Images: ©Jouko Lehmuskallio
Meadowsweet
Filipendula ulmaria
- Also written: Meadow-sweet
- Family: Rose Family – Rosaceae
- Growing form: Perennial, rhizomatous herb.
- Height: 50–120 cm (20–50 in.)
- Flower: Regular (actinomorphic), fairly small, 5–8 mm (0.2–0.3 in.), scented. Petals usu. 5, cream to white. Calyx-lobes usu. 5, reflexed, hairy. Stamens numerous, exceeding petals. Carpels free, many. Inflorescence a large compound corymb.
- Leaves: Alternate, stipulate, short-stalked to stalkless, blade odd-pinnate, leaflets in 3 to 5 pairs, with smaller leaflets in between. Terminal leaflet larger than lateral ones, usu. deeply 3–5-lobed, lateral leaflets ovate to elliptic, margins doubly toothed.
- Fruit: A cluster of spirally intertwined achenes.
- Habitat: Damp, often waterside meadows, scrub, and alder woods, ditches, moist broadleaf woods, eutrophic swamps and fens, springs.
- Flowering time: June–August.
The meadowsweet grows almost throughout Europe. It needs moist or wet soil rich in humus, and plenty of light. The plant does not flower before it is nine to ten years old. The fragrant flowers are insect-pollinated. The seeds do not fall immediately after ripening. When the winter comes, the stout stem stays erect enabling the numerous seeds to spread on the snow surface. In the following spring the seeds germinate on propitious sites.
The meadowsweet’s flowers were formerly used for flavouring beer and wine, leaves in sallads and rootstems in soups.
