Meadowsweet Uses and Plant Monograph
With its splash of brilliantly white flowers, meadowsweet brightens the meadows it calls home. One of my favorite memories of my time in Ireland was walking through meadowsweet, gorse, and loosestrife meadows. The brilliant display of colors and scents attracted pollinators and my camera alike.
This sweetly aromatic plant offers many gifts, including an ability to modulate inflammation, reduce pain, and protect the digestive tract. It has an interesting history and is credited as one of the plants that inspired drug manufacturers to create aspirin, while also being an important plant both spiritually and medicinally. It has been commonly used to dress up a bride (thus the common name bridewort) and to freshen up crowded spaces by being strewn on the floors (strewing herb).
“Meadowsweet was one of the three most sacred herbs used by ancient Celtic Druid priests. It is mentioned in the Knight’s Tale by Geoffrey Chaucer (fourteenth century C.E.), and described in old European herbals, including those of John Gerard (The Herball, 1597) and Nicholas Culpepper (The English Physician, 1652).”
- Commission E Monograph
Energetics
As a member of the rose family, meadowsweet has the common characteristics associated within this family, including being both cooling and astringent. These attributes contribute to meadowsweet’s aptitude for modulating inflammation and for protecting the digestive tract.
Meadowsweet is commonly used when there are signs of heat, like a sharp stabbing pain. Its aromatic qualities help to move stagnation. As a dry herb, it has a local influence on tightening tissues and preserving moisture through its astringent properties. But it also has a systemic influence of moisture loss via its diaphoretic (sweat-inducing) and diuretic (urination-inducing) qualities.
Meadowsweet Uses and Plant Profile Summary
- Botanical Name: Filipendula ulmaria (formerly Spiraea ulmaria), F. denudata, F. stepposa, F. vulgaris
- Other Common Names: queen of the meadow, bridewort, mead-wort
- Family: Rosaceae
- Parts Used: flowers, flower buds, leaves
- Energetics: cooling, drying
- Taste: bitter, pungent (aromatic), sweet
- Plant Properties: astringent, aromatic, diaphoretic, diuretic, modulates inflammation, relieves pain, modulates the immune system
- Plant Uses: diarrhea, ulcer, headache, pain, rheumatism, stomachache, fever, indigestion, gout, cervical dysplasia
- Plant Preparations: tea, tincture, bath, glycerite, oil infusion, strewing herb
Meadowsweet and Aspirin
Meadowsweet is famous for being high in salicylic acid, the chemical constituent that is known to decrease pain.
Salicylic acid was first identified and isolated from meadowsweet leaves in 1827. It was known to be analgesic or pain-relieving, but the isolated chemical was too nauseating to be useful.
It wasn’t until 1897 that Felix Hoffman figured out how to chemically alter salicin extracted from meadowsweet plant into acetylsalicylic acid, which was less troublesome for the stomach. Hoffman’s new chemical was renamed aspirin and was officially patented for sale by Bayer in 1900. Aspirin became a widely used medicine fairly quickly and was the beginning of the class of drugs known today as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).
Aspirin is still one of the most widely used drugs on the market, with 40,000 tonnes of it being consumed each year around the world! Most people tend to think of over-the-counter medicines as being safe. However, according to the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA), each year the side effects of aspirin and NSAIDs hospitalize over 100,000 people and kill 16,500 people in the US alone.1 The most common side effects of aspirin include bleeding ulcers and tinnitus.
Ironically, or perhaps notably, meadowsweet is commonly used by herbalists to heal the problems that aspirin creates. By isolating the salicin constituent of meadowsweet and turning it into aspirin, manufacturers have left out the natural buffering agents found in the whole plant.
Digestive Tract
Meadowsweet has many benefits for the digestive tract, assisting with conditions from the mild to the severe.
Ulcers
Meadowsweet has long been used to support and protect the digestive tract. It’s interesting that while aspirin, made from an isolated chemical constituent of meadowsweet, can give people ulcers, meadowsweet is often considered specific for healing ulcers!
Meadowsweet is high in tannins and flavonoids. The tannins, which are astringent, help to tighten and tone the mucous membranes of the digestive tract, including the lining of the stomach. By helping to pull tissues together, it can both prevent ulcers and address existing ulcers. It also helps to relieve pain – often the worst symptom of ulcers – and it has antimicrobial activity that can help to address infective agents.23
Another mechanism of action may be due to meadowsweet’s ability to inhibit the formation of histamine.4 While histamine is famous for its role in seasonal allergies, it can also play a role in stomach ulcerations.
All in all, meadowsweet is a wonderful herb for prevention and healing of stomach ulcers. It is often used as part of a larger healing regimen rather than as a simple (single herb). Herbalist Thomas Avery Garran recommends combining meadowsweet “with plantain leaf, marshmallow root, and chamomile for chronic inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract.”5 David Winston likes to also combine it with licorice.6
“Meadowsweet is one of the best digestive remedies available and as such will be indicated in most conditions, if they are approached holistically. It acts to protect and soothe the mucous membranes of the digestive tract, reducing excess acidity and easing nausea.”
- David Hoffman
Diarrhea
Many rose family plants are commonly used for diarrhea and meadowsweet is no exception. This astringent plant also tastes pleasant, making it a good choice for children. It can soothe upset tummies, relieve pain, and help to stop excessive diarrhea.
Stomachaches and Acid Reflux
My two favorite herbs for stomachaches and nausea are ginger and meadowsweet (okay, twist my arm, peppermint too).
Meadowsweet shines as an herb for stomachaches, nausea, and poor digestion and is especially helpful for those who find herbs like ginger to be too warming. Meadowsweet removes stagnation – like when you eat a meal and it stays in your stomach too long – and relieves discomfort in the stomach.
“If someone asks you what to do for reflux but isn’t going to come in and do a consult or listen to a lengthy exposition on the nuance of gastric tissues and processes, I say, ‘You could try meadowsweet and see if that helps.8 —jim mcdonald
Inflammation and Pain
As mentioned, meadowsweet is high in salicylic acid, which is well known for its ability to relieve pain. However, meadowsweet’s ability to relieve pain isn’t reduced to a single constituent. Its ability to modulate inflammation via flavonoids and tannins (not to mention aromatics) undoubtedly plays and important role. Researchers have shown that polyphenols within meadowsweet can strongly modulate inflammation in vitro.9
Meadowsweet seems especially suited to stagnant pain in people with symptoms of heat, such as redness, acute swelling, and tissues that are warm to the touch. Stagnant pain is pain that is in a fixed location and possibly presents with a pounding sensation.
Headaches
Meadowsweet is especially suited to headaches in which the person has a hot head and feels a pounding sensation in the head. Meadowsweet is cooling and it promotes circulation, which can relieve stagnant energy in the head.
Rheumatism and Arthritis
Besides having the ability to relieve pain, meadowsweet is also anti-inflammatory in nature. Taken daily as a tea or tincture, it can help relieve chronic arthritic pain and inflammation.
Gout
There are several references to meadowsweet being helpful for gout, in addition to lifestyle changes. This also makes sense as meadowsweet’s diuretic action can be mildly pain-relieving and anti-inflammatory.
Immune System
When taken as a hot tea, meadowsweet is a relaxing diaphoretic herb. It promotes circulation and opens the pores to let the heat out of the body via the skin. It is especially indicated when the person has a higher fever or feels hot but isn’t sweating.
A study to determine the benefits of meadowsweet as a functional beverage found that it is high in polysaccharides known to modulate the immune system. This gives us another reason to rely on meadowsweet during times of an upper respiratory infection.10
Urinary Tract Infections
When taken as a cool to lukewarm tea, meadowsweet is an effective diuretic. I have not seen it used much in formulas for urinary tract infections (UTIs), but it hypothetically seems like it would be effective.
Cervical Dysplasia
Meadowsweet is famous for relieving pain, healing ulcers and addressing diarrhea, but it has also shown to have potential anti-cancer benefits as well.
Meadowsweet has been shown to benefit people with cervical dysplasia (the presence of abnormal cell growth on the cervix). In this study, 25 out of 48 women with cervical dysplasia had a complete remission after using meadowsweet ointment.11.” Voprosy Onkologii 39, no. 7–12 (1993): 291–95.] Cervical dysplasia is strongly associated with the human papillomavirus (HPV) and has the potential to later develop into cancer.
Plant Preparations
Meadowsweet is a versatile plant that can be used in a variety of ways.
A simple tea from meadowsweet is wonderful medicine. It is strongly aromatic, sweet, and slightly astringent. Use a heaping tablespoon, or about 4-6 grams, per pint of water. Steep covered from 5-15 minutes. It will get noticeably more bitter with the longer steeping time.
Meadowsweet can also work well as an alcohol extract (tincture). A small amount of glycerin is generally added to help stabilize the tannins in meadowsweet tincture.
Henriette Kress recommends meadowsweet as a foot bath herb.
A meadowsweet foot bath with dried or fresh meadowsweet
- Fresh: Put the herb in a 1-quart (liter) pan and add water to cover.
- Dried: Put the herb in a 1-quart (liter) pan and add three times as much water.
- Bring to a boil, steep for 15 minutes, and strain.
- Pour into a basin or large bowl and add cold water to cool to a comfortable temperature.
- Put your feet in for 10 to 20 minutes.
- Remember to wriggle your toes in delight from time to time!
- Henriette Kress, Practical Herbs
Meadowsweet was commonly added to flavor meads, wines, vinegars, and ales, thus the common name mead-wort.
Meadowsweet has been shown to remove heavy metals like cadmium and lead from stormwater. While this may be a beneficial quality for helping humans to clean up their industrial waste, it is important for herbalists to harvest meadowsweet from areas free of metal contamination.12
Dosage Suggestions
- Tea: 3-9 grams per day
- Tincture (dried): 1:5, 30% alcohol, 2-4 mLs, 3 times a day13
- Tincture (fresh): 1:2 50% alcohol, 2-4 mLs, 3 times a day
Special Considerations
Meadowsweet is safe for most people. However, it should be used with caution in the following circumstances:
- Children under 16 who have the flu or chickenpox symptoms (because of the rare but serious Reye’s syndrome)
- People who are sensitive or allergic to aspirin
Footnotes
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