Filipendula

Filipendula is a genus of 12 species of perennial herbaceous flowering plants in the family Rosaceae, native to the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.

The species grow to between 0.5-2 m tall, with large inflorescences of small five-petalled flowers, creamy-white to pink-tinged in most species, dark pink in Filipendula rubra.

The species were in the past sometimes treated in a broad view of the genus Spiraea, but genetic research has shown that they are less closely related than previously considered.


Species
Filipendula ulmaria - Meadowsweet is a perennial herb in the family Rosaceae, which grows in damp meadows. It is native throughout most of Europe and western Asia though it has been successfully introduced and naturalized in North America.
Meadowsweet has also been referred to as Queen of the Meadow, Pride of the Meadow, Meadow-Wort, Meadow Queen, Lady of the Meadow, Dollof, Meadsweet and Bridewort.
The stems are 1–2 m 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 handsome irregularly-branched cymes, having a very strong, sweet smell. They flower from June to early September.
Uses: 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 to strew 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 minute quantities in homeopathic preparations. It is effective on its own the treatment of diarrhoea. The flowers, when made into a tea, are a comfort to flu sufferers. Dried, the flowers make lovely pot pourri.

Filipendula vulgaris - Dropwort, also known as Fern-leaf Dropwort is a perennial herb of the family Rosaceae closely related to Meadowsweet. It is found in dry pastures across much of Europe and central and northern Asia. It has finely-cut, radical leaves, fern-like in appearance, and an erect stem 50-80 cm tall bearing a loose terminal inflorescence of small white flowers. The tiny flowers appear in dense clusters from late spring to mid summer.
This plant prefers full sun to partial shade. It is more tolerant of dry conditions than most other members of its genus.
Uses: A root decoction has been made from this plant to treat kidney ailments and is an expectorant. Propagation is by seed and the division of the creeping roots.

Filipendula rubra (Queen-of-the-prairie) is a medicinal plant and ornamental plant native to the United States.

Filipendula angustiloba

Filipendula purpurea

Filipendula glaberrima

Filipendula multijuga

Filipendula occidentalis

Filipendula kiraishiensis

Filipendula kamtschatica

Filipendula vestita

Filipendula palmata

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