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Rosaceae
Meadowsweet
Filipendula ulmaria
Uselessness, peace, ancient sweetness.
- Family
- Rosaceae
- Genus
- Filipendula
- Native to
- Europe, Western Asia
- Bloom season
- Summer
- Type
- Perennial
- Height
- 60–120 cm (2–4 ft)
- Sunlight
- Full sun to part shade
- Soil
- Moist, rich
- Water
- High
- Hardiness
- 3–9
- Lifespan
- Long-lived perennial
Did you know
- Meadowsweet contains salicylic acid—the chemical from which aspirin was first synthesized in 1897. The name 'aspirin' actually comes from 'a-' (without) plus 'spiraea,' meadowsweet's old genus name.
- Druids considered meadowsweet one of their three most sacred herbs (along with vervain and mint)—it appears in the famous Glastonbury Tor legend as a strewing herb at fairy weddings.
- Queen Elizabeth I had her chambers strewn with meadowsweet because she loved the scent more than any other flower—the leaves smell of almonds, the flowers of honey.
- In Welsh mythology, the wizards Math and Gwydion created the maiden Blodeuwedd from the flowers of oak, broom, and meadowsweet—a girl made entirely of bloom.
- Meadowsweet was the favored flavoring for medieval European mead and English country wines, lending a delicate almond-honey note that hops and barley couldn't match.
Color meanings
0
sweetness
1
peace
2
ancient memory