Summary and Origin[]
Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria), also commonly known as mead wort, is a perennial herb 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.
Though meadowsweet and mead wort are the most common names of Filipendula ulmaria, it 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.
Appearance[]
Plant[]
The stems are 1–2 m (3.3–6.6 ft) tall, erect and furrowed, reddish to sometimes purple. The leaves are dark-green on the upper side and whitish and downy underneath, much divided, interruptedly pinnate, having a few large serrate leaflets and small intermediate ones. Terminal leaflets are large, 4–8 cm long, and three- to five-lobed.
Fruit[]
The fruits, at first green, are in a tight spiral like a clenched fist and are about the size of a match head.
Flower[]
Meadowsweet has delicate, graceful, creamy-white flowers clustered close together in irregularly-branched cymes, having a very strong, sweet smell.
Pollination[]
The flowers flower from early summer to early autumn and are visited by various types of insects, in particular Musca flies.
Meadowsweet Fruit.
Meadowsweet plant and its flowers.