Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria) & also known as Queen of the Meadow, Pride of the Meadow, Meadow-Wort, Meadwort, & Bridewort is a perennial herb in the family Rosaceae, which grows in damp meadows. It is native throughout most of Europe & Western Asia although it has been successfully introduced & naturalized in North America. Meadowsweet has delicate, graceful, creamy-white flowers clustered close together in handsome irregularly-branched cymes, having a very strong, sweet smell. They flower from June to early September. Uses of Meadowsweet : - The whole herb possesses a pleasant taste & flavour, the green parts having a similar aromatic character to the flowers, leading to the use of the plant to strew on floors to give the rooms a pleasant aroma, & its use to flavour wine, beer & many vinegars. The flowers can be added to stewed fruit & jams, giving them a subtle almond flavour. Meadowsweet was regarded as sacred by the Druids. It has many traditional properties. Dried, the flowers make a lovely potpourris. A natural black dye can be obtained from the roots by using a copper mordant. History of Meadowsweet White-flowered meadowsweet has been found with the cremated remains of three people & at least one animal in a Bronze Age cairn at Fan Foel, Carmarthenshire. Similar finds have also been found inside a Beaker burial from Ashgrove, Fife & a vessel from North Mains, Strathallan. These could possibly indicate honey-based mead or flavoured ale, or alternatively might suggest the plant being placed on the grave as a scented flower. in Welsh Mythology, Gwydion & Math created a woman out of oak blossom, broom, & meadowsweet & named her Blodeuwedd (flower face). It is known by many other names, & in Chaucer’s The Knight’s Tale it is known as Meadwort & was one of the ingredients in a drink caled save. It was also known as Bridewort, because it was strewn in churches for festivals & weddings , 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 & herbs (both to give warmth underfoot & to overcome smells & infections), it was a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I. She desired it above all other herbs in her chambers. Meadowsweet Cut Herb - Filipendula Ulmaria 100 Grams
