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Filipendula ulmaria
Also called Queen of the meadow, Elm Queen Of The Meadow, White Queen Of The Meadow, European Meadowsweet
Meadowsweet is a perennial herb of damp meadows, fens and wet woods, grown for its fragrant creamy-white flower clusters. It needs consistently moist soil and a sunny to lightly shaded site.
Filipendula ulmaria, commonly known as meadowsweet or mead wort, is a perennial herbaceous plant in the family Rosaceae that grows in damp meadows. It is native throughout most of Europe and Western Asia (Near East and Middle East). It has been introduced and naturalised in North America.
Meadowsweet has also been referred to as queen of the meadow, pride of the meadow, meadow-wort, meadow queen, lady of the meadow, dollof, meadsweet, and bridewort.
Meadowsweet is common throughout the British Isles in damp areas and is dominant in fens and wet woods.
The whole herb possesses a pleasant taste and flavour, the green parts having a similar aromatic character to the flowers, hence the use of the plant as a strewing herb, strewn on floors to give the rooms a pleasant aroma, and its use to flavour vinegar, wine, and beer. The flowers can be added to stewed fruit and jams, giving them a subtle almond flavour. Some foragers also use the flowers to flavour desserts such as panna cotta. It has many medicinal properties. The whole plant is a traditional remedy for an acidic stomach. The dried flowers are used in potpourri. It is also a frequently used spice in Scandinavian varieties of mead.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Filipendula ulmaria by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
