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Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria)

Sweet by name, sweet by nature. Meadowsweet might not be to everyone’s taste, but you’re unlikely to mistake the sickly sweet and frothy flower in damp woodland and bubbling out of damp ditches.

  • Look out for meadowsweet in bloom from June to September.

    Credit: Nick Upton / naturepl.com

  • It can be used as a sweet flavouring.

    Credit: Brian Hird (Wildflowers) / Alamy Stock Photo

  • It flourishes in damp soil.

    Credit: Marcus Harrison Plants / Alamy Stock Photo

  • Look out for its deeply veined and serrated leaves.

    Credit: Marcus Harrison Plants / Alamy Stock Photo

Quick facts

Common names: meadowsweet, bittersweet

Scientific name: Filipendula ulmaria

Family: Rosaceae

Origin: native

Flowering season: June to September

Habitat: wet woodland, grassland, heathland and moorland

What does meadowsweet look like?

An upright perennial plant, meadowsweet grows to a height of 120cm.

Leaves: compound, with up to 5 pairs of leaflets and a 3-lobed leaflet at the tip. Dark green on the top and greyish below. Leaflets are deeply veined and doubly serrated (toothed) along the edges. The leaves are arranged on alternate sides of the stem.

Flowers: are small and white or creamy-yellow and in large, frothy clusters or flower heads known as cymes. Each single flower is only 5-10mm in diameter. Each flower has long stamen giving a fuzzy appearance.

Not to be confused with: the related dropwort has straight fruits (whereas meadowsweet has twisted, spiral-like fruits. Dropwort also tends to grow on drier ground.

Where to find meadowsweet

Meadowsweet flourishes in damp soil in grassland and heathland and in areas where water levels rise and fall. You might spot it in a damp meadow or on a riverbank.

Look out for them in bloom between June and September.

Value to wildlife

Meadowsweet is the food plant for the larvae of several moth species including the emperor moth, grey pug, Hebrew character, lime-speck pug, mottled beauty, and the satellite. Many species of insects are attracted to the flowers.

Credit: Brian Hird (Wildflowers) / Alamy Stock Photo

Uses of meadowsweet

Meadowsweet has painkilling properties thanks to compounds similar to aspirin. It was steeped in water as a relieving tea before medicines for pain were widespread.

It’s also edible and can be used as flavouring in a similar way to elderflower.

It was once valued for its lasting fragrance; the dried flowers were strewn across floors to perfume the home. It was also used in Anglo-Saxon times to flavour mead.

Did you know?

Meadowsweet was a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I, who used the plant instead of straw on her chamber floors.

Threats and conservation

Meadowsweet is common, it is not currently considered to be under threat.

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