Filipendula ulmaria

Meadowsweet
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Rosids
Order: Rosales
Family: Rosaceae
Genus: Filipendula
Species: F. ulmaria
Binomial name
Filipendula ulmaria
(L.) Maxim.

Filipendula ulmaria, commonly known as meadowsweet[1] or mead wort,[2] is a perennial herb in the family Rosaceae that grows in damp meadows. It is native throughout most of Europe and Western Asia (Near east and Middle east). It has been introduced and naturalised in North America.

Meadowsweet has also been referred to as Queen of the Meadow,[1] Pride of the Meadow, Meadow-Wort, Meadow Queen, Lady of the Meadow, Dollof, Meadsweet, and Bridewort.

Description

The Meadowsweet Rust gall on leaf midrib

The stems are 1–2 m (3.3–6.6 ft) tall, erect and furrowed, reddish to sometimes purple. The leaves are dark-green on the upper side and whitish and downy underneath, much divided, interruptedly pinnate, having a few large serrate leaflets and small intermediate ones. Terminal leaflets are large, 4–8 cm long, and three- to five-lobed.

Meadowsweet has delicate, graceful, creamy-white flowers clustered close together in irregularly-branched cymes, having a very strong, sweet smell. They flower from early summer to early autumn and are visited by various types of insects, in particular Musca flies.[3]

Filipendula is a perennial herb growing to 70 cm high. The flowers are small and numerous, they show 5 sepals and 5 petals with 7 to 20 stamens.[4]

Meadowsweet leaves are commonly galled by the bright orange-rust fungus Triphragmium ulmariae, which creates swellings and distortions on the stalk and/or midrib.

Distribution

Common throughout the British Isles.[4]

Habitat

Common in damp areas and dominant in fens and wet woods.[5][6]

Herbal and pharmacological

The whole herb possesses a pleasant taste and flavour, the green parts having a similar aromatic character to the flowers, leading to the use of the plant as a strewing herb, strewn on floors to give the rooms a pleasant aroma, and its use to flavour wine, beer, and many vinegars. The flowers can be added to stewed fruit and jams, giving them a subtle almond flavor. It has many medicinal properties. The whole plant is a traditional remedy for an acidic stomach, and the fresh root is often used in negligible quantities in homeopathic preparations. Dried, the flowers are used in potpourri. It is also a frequently used spice in Scandinavian varieties of mead.

Chemical constituents include salicylic acid, flavone glycosides, essential oils, and tannins.

In 1897, Felix Hoffmann created a synthetically altered version of salicin, derived from the species, which caused less digestive upset than pure salicylic acid. The new drug, formally acetylsalicylic acid, was named aspirin by Hoffmann's employer Bayer AG after the old botanical name for meadowsweet, Spiraea ulmaria. This gave rise to the class of drugs known as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).

This plant contains the chemicals used to make aspirin. A small section of root, when peeled and crushed smells like Germolene, and when chewed is a good natural remedy for relieving headaches. A natural black dye can be obtained from the roots by using a copper mordant.

About one in five people with asthma has Samter's triad,[7] in which aspirin induces asthma symptoms. Therefore, asthmatics should be aware of the possibility that meadowsweet, with its similar biochemistry, will also induce symptoms of asthma.

Filipendula ulmaria flowers or herb have been used in the traditional Austrian medicine internally as tea for treatment of rheumatism, gout, infections, and fever.

Wild meadowsweet in Wharfedale, near Conistone, North Yorkshire, England

History and etymology

White-flowered meadowsweet has been found with the cremated remains of three people and at least one animal in a Bronze Age cairn at Fan Foel, Carmarthenshire. Similar finds have also been found inside a Beaker from Ashgrove, Fife,[8] and a vessel from North Mains, Strathallan. These could indicate honey-based mead or flavoured ale, or might suggest the plant placed on the grave as a scented flower.[9]

In Welsh Mythology, Gwydion and Math created a woman out of oak blossom, broom, and meadowsweet and named her Blodeuwedd ("flower face").

It is known by many other names, and in Chaucer's The Knight's Tale it is known as Meadwort and was one of the ingredients in a drink called "save". It was also known as Bridewort, because it was strewn in churches for festivals and weddings, and often made into bridal garlands. In Europe, it took its name "queen of the meadow" for the way it can dominate a low-lying, damp meadow. In the 16th century, when it was customary to strew floors with rushes and herbs (both to give warmth underfoot and to overcome smells and infections), it was a favorite of Elizabeth I of England. She desired it above all other herbs in her chambers.

The name ulmaria means "elmlike", possibly in reference to its individual leaves which resemble those of the elm (Ulmus). Like slippery elm bark, the plant contains salicylic acid, which has long been used as a painkiller, and this may be the source of the name. However, the generic name, Filipendula, comes from filum, meaning "thread" and pendulus, meaning "hanging". This is said to describe the root tubers that hang characteristically on the genus, on fibrous roots.

Range

Juncus subnodulosus-Cirsium palustre fen-meadow and Purple moor grass and rush pastures BAP habitat plant associations of Western Europe consistently include this plant.[10]

References

  1. 1 2 "USDA GRIN Taxonomy".
  2. ↑ Richard Chandler Alexander Prior (1863). On the popular names of British plants: being an explanation of the origin and meaning of the names of our indigenous and most commonly cultivated species. Williams and Norgate.
  3. ↑ Van Der Kooi, C. J.; Pen, I.; Staal, M.; Stavenga, D. G.; Elzenga, J. T. M. (2015). "Competition for pollinators and intra-communal spectral dissimilarity of flowers" (PDF). Plant Biology. doi:10.1111/plb.12328.
  4. 1 2 Parnell, J. and Curtis, T. 2012. Webb's An Irish Flora. Cork University Press. ISBN 978-185918-4783
  5. ↑ Clapham, A.R., Tutin, T.G. and Warburg, E,F. 1973. Excursion Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-04656-4
  6. ↑ Hackney, P. (Ed) 1992. Stewart and Corry's Flora of the North-east of Ireland. Institute of Irish Studies and the Queen's University of Belfast. ISBN 0-85389-446-9
  7. ↑ Jenkins, C; Costello, J; Hodge, L (2004). "Systematic review of prevalence of aspirin induced asthma and its implications for clinical practice". BMJ (Clinical research ed.). 328 (7437): 434. PMC 344260 Freely accessible. PMID 14976098. doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7437.434.
  8. ↑ "myADS" (PDF). Archaeology Data Service. Retrieved 2016-12-15.
  9. ↑ M. Pitts (2006). Meadowsweet flowers in prehistoric graves. British Archaeology 88 (May/June): 6
  10. ↑ C. Michael Hogan. 2009. Marsh Thistle: Cirsium palustre, GlobalTwitcher.com, ed. N. Strömberg "Archived copy". Archived from the original on December 13, 2012. Retrieved August 3, 2010.
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