(16 votes, average: 3.56 out of 5)
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Meadowsweet
Edible 
Autumn 
Spring 
Summer
Fairly common and usually found growing in clumps, it can often be smelled before being seen.
| Hedgerow Type | |
| Common Names | Meadowsweet, Meadsweet, Mead Wort |
| Scientific Name | Filipendula ulmaria |
| Season Start | Mar |
| Season End | Oct |
Leaves
Dark green on the upper surface and whitish and downy underneath. The leaves have serrated edges and the terminal leaflets are three to five lobed with smaller leaflets growing behind these.
Flowers
Small creamy white flowers in ‘frothy’ looking clusters from early Summer to early Autumn.
Seed Pods
Has distinctive ‘curly’ seed pods that appear in great profusion in late Summer/Autumn
Stem
The leaf stem is red with small leaflets between the larger leaves.
Habitat
Damp Meadows, gardens, wetland, hedgerows and fields.
Possible Confusion
The smell and the leaves on this plant are very distinctive so it would be hard to confuse it with another plant.
Smell
Very sweet with a ‘Germolene’/ hospital smell.
Taste
Medicinal and unpleasant but some people seem to like the taste.
Frequency
Common.
Collecting
The flowers can be collected and used to make fritters or even an elderflower champagne like drink but as I mentioned I don’t like the taste.
Medicinal Uses
The plant contains salicylic acid which was synthesized in 1897 by Felix Hoffmann for the Bayer pharmaceutical company into acetylsalicylic acid which was called Aspirin. Aspirin is more gentle on the stomach than salicylic acid and has different medical effects.
Other Facts
Meadow sweet used to be used to sweeten and flavour wines, beer and mead.
It was also used on floors and bedding many years ago to help mask household smells.
3 comments for Meadowsweet
So happy I found this site! Any info on feverfew?
Back in the 70s it grew prolifically in backyards in the UK.
My mother used it for many things, especially rheumatic pains.
Now that everyone seemed to have hardscaped their yards, I seldom see it.
Apparently Feverfew can help prevent Migranes. We have loads of it in our garden here 🙂
Many years ago I bought a tiny feverfew plant from a local nursery here in east Anglia and it has since self seeded and made itself very much at home in my garden. It is happiest in a bit of shade and flowers for months and months on plants of up to 60 x 60 cm.