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Meadowsweet

Meadowsweet

Filipendula ulmaria

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How common: Very common

Meadowsweet is a tall, fragrant wildflower with frothy cream‑white flower clusters. It thrives in damp places and is a familiar sight along streams, wet meadows and marshy woods across much of Eurasia, and it has spread to other regions as well.

Did you know?

  • Provincial flower of Ostrobothnia.
  • The blossoms smell sweet, and their many pollen-bearing parts give the flower heads a foamy look.

About the species

Identification

Upright perennial, 50–150 cm. Stem stiff, often reddish. Many large leaves; each leaf is divided into several small leaflets with a much bigger tip leaflet, underside greyish; edges sharply toothed, with a few tiny extra leaflets between the larger ones. Flower clusters 5–25 cm, dense and branched, creamy white and strongly scented; the tiny five-petaled flowers are so crowded and bristling with stamens that the tops look fluffy. Later the small hard fruits twist into coils. Differs from dropwort, which grows on dry ground and has most leaves at the base. Flowers in Finland from June to August.

Plant group

Herbaceous plants

Habitat

meadow

Flowering

Jun–Aug

About the habitat

Likes wet ground: wet meadows, ditches, shore meadows and thickets, moist deciduous woods, fens and spring areas. Common throughout the country.

Sources

Photo: AnRo0002, CC0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:20190713Filipendula ulmaria1.jpg

Text: Pinkka: BIO-503 Suomen kasvisto ja kasvillisuus - Tunturit: tunturiniityt, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.38795

Text: Pinkka (Luomus), CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.38795

Text: Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesiangervo

See also