Meadowsweet - Filipendula ulmaria
Fairly tall erect plant to 1.5 metres. Often forming large clumps. Large heads of small (4 to 8 mm) creamy white, sweetly scented flowers, usually with 5 petals and many stamens. Fruits twisted, in clusters. Leaves with up to 5 pairs of leaflets, greyer beneath.
Damp habitats, wet ditches, river and stream margins.
June to September.
Perennial.
Common throughout Britain.
Very common in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 571 of the 617 tetrads.
Graham Calow
Foot of Croft Hill
29 August 2014
Graham Calow
Wykin Canal Towpath
26 June 2015
Craig Mabbett
Broughton Astley brook
23 September 2014
fruits are twisted
Graham Calow
Wykin Canal Towpath
26 June 2015 Back Brook near Ramsdale Farm Sapcote SP 4975 9220 (taken 30.6.2008).JPG)
Graham Calow
Sapcote
30 June 2008
David Nicholls
Ratby Balancing Pond
24 May 2014
 Back Brook near Ramsdale Farm Sapcote SP 4975 9220 (taken 30.6.2008).JPG)
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Species profile
- Common names
- Meadowsweet
- Species group:
- Wildflowers
- Kingdom:
- Plantae
- Order:
- Rosales
- Family:
- Rosaceae
- Records on NatureSpot:
- 589
- First record:
- 01/01/1979 (Patricia Evans)
- Last record:
- 22/09/2025 (Smith, Peter)
Total records by month
% of records within its species group
10km squares with records
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Latest images
Latest records
David Gould
The Spearwort Fields
06 August 2016 Old Fosse Sapcote SP 5012 9260 (taken 2.7.2006).JPG)
Graham Calow
Sapcote
02 July 2006
David Nicholls
Ratby Disused Railway
09 July 2011
David Nicholls
Lea Meadows
07 July 2011
David Nicholls
Cloud Wood
24 June 2011
Graham Calow
Broughton Astley
24 June 2011
David Gould
The Spearwort Fields
06 August 2016
HAPeacock
River Soar - St Marys Mill
14 June 2012
Alan Semper
Harby, canal
25 June 2012
Barbara Cooper
Long Clawson
04 July 2012
Barbara Cooper
LOng Clawson
07 July 2012
HAPeacock
River Soar - St Marys Mill
12 July 2012
HAPeacock
River Soar - St Marys Mill
12 July 2012
HAPeacock
River Soar - St Marys Mill
12 July 2012
Barbara Cooper
Clawson Hill
12 July 2012
kthgodw
Field rear St Mary's Church BA
17 July 2012
Fran Marsland
Broughton Astley
17 July 2012
HAPeacock
River Soar - St Mary's Mills
02 July 2013
 Old Fosse Sapcote SP 5012 9260 (taken 2.7.2006).JPG)
Aphis ulmariae
Aphis ulmariae also knows as the Small Meadowsweet Aphid live in the curled terminal leaves of Meadowsweet and other Filipendula species. Adult apterae are generally described as mottled dark green in life but some are yellow mottled with green, similar to the colour variation shown by its closest relative Aphis ruborum.
Meadowsweet Aphid
Macrosiphum cholodkovskyi also known as the Meadowsweet Aphid is a large aphid associated with Meadowsweet. Alates are green with a brownish head and brown patches on the thorax. Antennae are long, pale at the base but then darkening. the siphunculi are similarly pale at the base then darkening. Apterae are similar but can also be a coral-red colour, as well as green.
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Meadowsweet Rust Fungus
Meadowsweet Rust Fungus (Triphragmium ulmariae) causes galls on the host plant. The aecia are orange and mainly on the underside leaf-veins and petioles.
Agromyza filipendulae
The larvae of the Agromyzid fly Agromyza filipendulae mine the leaves of various plants including Meadowsweet and related species in the Rosaceae family. The mine is a long linear mine, never widening into a blotch at the end. Frass occurs in discrete grains.
Ramularia ulmariae
The fungal gall causer Ramularia ulmariae causes purple spots to appear on the leaves of Meadowsweet.
Dasineura ulmaria
The larva of gall midge Dasineura ulmaria causes galls to form on Meadowsweet. The upper leaf surface has smooth reddish rounded swellings, 1 to 2 mm across, with pale yellow, hairy, conical projections below that are between 2 and 4 mm long; usually on veins. The larva is pale yellow.
Dasineura pustulans
The larva of the gall midge Dasineura pustulans causes galls to form on the leaves of Meadowsweet. The galls are small swellings/pustules, about 1mm across. The shallow dimple below is surrounded by a yellowish patch; with a single larva in each dimple.
Podosphaera spiraeae
The white powdery mildew Podosphaera spiraeae attacks Meadowsweet affecting most parts of the plant.
Podosphaera filipendulae
This white powdery mildew affects several plant species but most commonly Meadowsweet.
Agromyza idaeiana
The larvae of the fly Agromyza idaeiana often mine the leaves of plants in the Rosaceae family. Although Creeping Cinquefoil is most commonly used, Meadowsweet is also used at times. The mine is variable; it may be linear, with frass in a double row, or develop into a blotch obscuring the initial corridor.
Agromyza sulfuriceps
The larva of the Agromyzid fly Agromyza sulfuriceps mines the leaves of various species in the Rosaceae family including Roses, Meadowsweet, Strawberry, Silverweed, Cinquefoil, Raspberry and Burnets. The mine starts as a long corridor, its initial part often along the leaf margin or a thick vein. Rather suddenly the corridor widens into a broad blotch. The corridor contains much frass, often in two distinct patches or lines.