Folk Medicine
Latin name: Spiraea flos, herba3
Usable parts: Everything from the flower to the leaves and the root3
Harvest period: The leaves and flowers from June to August, and the root in spring or autumn.
Constituents: Gaultherin, salicylic acid, essential oil, heliotropin, vanillin, terpenes, tannins, mucilage, flavone glycosides3
Action: Analgesic, diaphoretic, diuretic, haemostatic 3
Application: Meadowsweet serves as a classic anti-flu remedy. Consumed as a tea, it is used at the onset of cold symptoms or when a fever is already in progress. Thanks to its salycil constituent (an ingredient also found in aspirin), it soothes cold and flu symptoms.
Risk of misidentification: Aruncus dioicus
Tips for Domestic Cultivation
The meadowsweet is easily grown just using part of its root. If it is planted in alkaline soil and in damp conditions, you’ll have a highly useful plant for the kitchen.
Home Use / Recipe Idea
Meadowsweet skin lotion3
Pour 250 ml of boiling water over a bunch of flowers and leave to cool. Mix a teaspoon of witch hazel water into the filtered water. Filled into spray bottles, it serves as an excellent astringent.
3 “Die Kräuter in meinem Garten” by Siegrid Hirsch & Felix Grünberger; 22nd Edition; Freya Verlag Gmbh
4 “Schwester Bernardines große Naturapotheke”; 1983 Artia Prague; All rights of the German edition held by Mosaik Verlag GmbH