Meadowsweet

Meadowsweet was once used to spice mead, beer, and wine. The flowers have a unique scent noticeable even a distance from where the plant is growing.

  • Where to Find It

    Meadowsweet is especially common in the eastern part of Denmark. Preferring moist, nutrient-rich soil, it grows near streams and lakes, or by roadsides where there's water nearby. Look for dark green colonies topped with characteristic white, puffy flowers; there will often be swarms of insects buzzing around them.

  • Streams, lakes, towns, hedges, roadsides, grasslands.
  • When to Find It

    You can pick the leaves of meadowsweet from March until October, and its flowers from June until August. If it's cut back early enough to regrow in the middle of summer, it will continue to bloom in some places until November.

  • Leaves: March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October.
    Flowers: June, July, August.
  • How to Spot It

    Meadowsweet can reach a meter tall and has egg-shaped, serrated leaves that are smooth on the surface, but matte and hairy underneath. The leaves are reddish at the beginning of the year (and green thereafter) and they grow in irregular sizes up along the red stem. At the top, the stem forms several branch tips that are covered with small, white flowers, many of which grow together in pompoms or puffs. There is often a thick swarm of insects flying around the flowers, gathering nectar.

  • How to Pick It

    People typically pick only the flowers of meadowsweet, but its young spring leaves are also interesting. Meadowsweet has a strong flavor, so you don't need much of it.

Risk of misidentifying the plant

There is no risk of mistaking the plant for another dangerous or undesirable plant.