Meadowsweet is a perennial plant that grows 3-4 feet (0.9-1.2 m) high in damp water meadows and on river banks, earning its old country name, Queen-of-the Meadow. It was once called Meadwort, as it was used to flavor mead, and in Chaucer’s England it was made into beer.

Meadowsweet has elm-like leaves and large clusters of almond-scented, creamy white flowers that bloom from June to September. The leaves smell like wintergreen when crushed.

Parts used – flowers, leaves, and roots.

This plant is native to Europe and Asia and has been naturalized throughout North America.

Meadowsweet was revered as a sacred herb by ancient Celtic Druid priests as early as 600 B.C. and was mentioned in English herbal guide books dating to the 16th century. A tea made from the herb’s flowers and leaves was used to treat feverish colds and to alleviate pain in muscles and joints.

Aspirin, one of the world’s most common and important drugs, was developed from the Meadowsweet plant. In 1839, the compound salicylic acid was identified from its flower buds and became widely used to treat pain, fever, and inflammation – but one side effect was an upset stomach.

In 1853, German chemists added a molecular acetyl group to a Meadowsweet extract and synthesized acetylsalicylic acid, which provided greater relief from fever, pain, and inflammation. The name chosen for the new compound was “aspirin” – a combination of “a” for acetyl and “spirin” for “spiraea”, the former name of the Meadowsweet plant. In 1899, the company Bayer AG began to sell a synthetic form of this compound.

The herb is considered less irritating to the stomach than the purified drug.