Friday 7 July 2023

Meadowsweet

 Meadowsweet was also once known as Queen of the Meadow, Lady of the Meadow, Bridewort or Hayriff and wasn't a plant I was familiar with until moving  to Clay Cottage in Mid-Suffolk. Either I'd never noticed it or it just didn't feature much on the verges and ditch edges in the very dry Suffolk Coastal area where we lived at the smallholding.

I spotted some growing  in a shady ditch edge just along the road from the bungalow and brought a little home to see if it 'sweetened' the living room. Can't say I noticed it particularly - perhaps I need to have gathered much more.



It was one of the most sacred herbs of the Druids and has also been found among cremated remains of Bronze Age people.  The reason for it's name of Meadowsweet when it doesn't grow in meadows is it was often used to flavour mead. It was used as a strewing herb too.

The seventeenth century herbalist, Gerarde also knew of it

For the smell thereof makes the heart merrie, 
delighting the senses, and neither does it cause headaches, 
or loathsome to meat, as some sweet smelling herbs do.

In folklore a drink made from meadowsweet was once considered to be a love potion and in folk medicine it was used to make remedies for headaches, coughs and sore throats. It contains some salicylic acid - the basis for aspirin (like the more well known willow)


And of course there is an illustration  and song of the Meadowsweet Flower Fairy from Cecily Mary Barker's books of the 1920s.


The Song of the Queen of The Meadow Fairy

Queen of the Meadow
where small streams are flowing,
What is your kingdom
and whom do you rule
"Mine are the places
where wet grass is growing,
Mine are the people
of marshland and pool.
Kingfisher-courtiers,
swift-flashing, beautiful,
Dragonflies, minnows
are mine one and all;
Little frog-servants who
wait around me, dutiful,
Hop on my errands
and come when I call".

Gentle Queen Meadowsweet
served with such loyalty,
Have you no crown then,
no jewels to wear?
"Nothing I need
for a sign of my royalty,
Nothing at all 
but my own fluffy hair!"




Back Tomorrow
Sue

21 comments:

  1. The blossoms do look just like fluffy hair! I think we get something similar here although I don't know what it's called.

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  2. What a sweet little poem! ♥️ And a beautiful flower!

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    1. I like her illustration - the poems are a bit twee for 2023 but were of their time

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  3. Known here, Dorset, as Lady’s Bedstraw. Sandra.

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    1. There is another plant called Lady's Bedstraw but that is different

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  4. There's always been plenty of Meadowsweet about in Wales - nice and damp for it to grow as a rule! I didn't know about the Salicilic acid, but knew it was often in the Beakers of the Beaker Folk when they buried their dead. The Flower Fairies books were ones I read regularly to my girls when they were little. Danny loved Thomas the Tank Engine :)

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    1. There are little patches of it here but not widespread like cow-parsley etc

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  5. The folklore is interesting. 'Humble' remedies are often useful.

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    1. I love searching out bits of old folklore remedies in my books

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  6. Lovely, it grows abundantly in the wet ditches around here but our meadow is too dry for it. I have never detected a particularly fragrant scent from it, unlike lady’s bedstraw (Galium verum) which is a new arrival in our meadow this year and its yellow flowers smell of honey. Our meadow is looking wonderful, it is now in its fifth year and the diversity of plants (all natural arrivals - apart from the yellow rattle which I sowed in September 2018) and visiting insects is incredible. I am very proud of my meadow-making and I love how it is evolving year by year. Btw lady’s bedstraw can be used of instead rennet in vegetarian cheese-making. Wasn’t the tennis exciting yesterday? Because of the Ashes we only started watching Broady after supper (summer greens risotto and raspberries) and we were gripped. My husband then stayed up to catch up with Andy Murray (my least favourite sportsman - I once saw him play as a bad-tempered foul-mouthed teenager at Wimbledon and have never forgotten his appalling behaviour I’m afraid) but I was more than ready for bath and bed. Sarah in Sussex

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    1. I keep a look out for Meadowsweet here but rarely see any - we are such a dry County.
      It was a nice surprise when Pyramid Orchids appeared on my small meadow before moving here. The previous owner kept it cut and never saw any.
      Our 4 acre meadow at the smallholding just 4 miles from the coast was either a campsite or cut for hay and even dryer than here in Mid Suffolk

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  7. Another interesting post with a beautiful illustration-thank you. Catriona

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    1. Still dozens of Flower Fairy Illustrations left to share on here if I see the flowers/trees etc to go with them

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  8. Meadowsweet is a pretty herb. I love learning about these old remedies :)

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    1. I need to re-borrow a couple of books about plant remedies from the library now I have a photocopier again.

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  9. I love it. It grows along the verges here - once the cow parslet (which I also love) dies back along comes the meadow sweet - lovely perfume too.

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    1. The perfume was lost indoors in a vase - sadly

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  10. Very interesting post, as well as all the useful facts I love the flower fairy illustrations and poem
    Alison in Wales x

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    1. She was a talented botanical artist - the poems always seem a bit dated now but I'll keep sharing them anyway!

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  11. I love these posts! Thanks so much for sharing

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