Meadow sweet
Scientific name: Filipendula ulmaria
Family: Roseaceae
Other common names; courtship and matrimony, honey-sweet
Flowering time: June to September
Height: 40cm - 120cm
Growing conditions: damp but not permanently flooded
Nectar source for: many insects
Food source for: many caterpillar species.
Description
Meadow sweet is a large and attractive plant with strong white flowers and a gorgeous scent. It has dark red stems, with green velvety leaves. The creamy-yellow flowers are found in clusters, have a very strong, sweet scent and attract many insects. It was once used for flavouring mead and contains salicylic acid which is the active ingredient in aspirin. At one moment, it was grown commercially for this purpose. If you crush its stem near the base, it smells strongly of antiseptic. Meadowsweet was one of the three most sacred herbs of the druids.
How to identify: Meadowsweet displays a 'froth' of creamy-white flowers, densely packed together in flower heads that sit on erect stems. Its dark green leaves are divided into pairs of leaflets and have silvery undersides.
How to propagate: Propagate by seed sown in containers, or by division in spring.
Family: Roseaceae
Other common names; courtship and matrimony, honey-sweet
Flowering time: June to September
Height: 40cm - 120cm
Growing conditions: damp but not permanently flooded
Nectar source for: many insects
Food source for: many caterpillar species.
Description
Meadow sweet is a large and attractive plant with strong white flowers and a gorgeous scent. It has dark red stems, with green velvety leaves. The creamy-yellow flowers are found in clusters, have a very strong, sweet scent and attract many insects. It was once used for flavouring mead and contains salicylic acid which is the active ingredient in aspirin. At one moment, it was grown commercially for this purpose. If you crush its stem near the base, it smells strongly of antiseptic. Meadowsweet was one of the three most sacred herbs of the druids.
How to identify: Meadowsweet displays a 'froth' of creamy-white flowers, densely packed together in flower heads that sit on erect stems. Its dark green leaves are divided into pairs of leaflets and have silvery undersides.
How to propagate: Propagate by seed sown in containers, or by division in spring.