Meadowsweet

Description:

1/2 meter tall plants, with the cloud shaped flower heads made up of smaller flower heads in white. The stems have a red tinge to them.

Habitat:

There were many of these plants growing in ditches, edging agricultural fields.

Notes:

The Meadowsweet was once used to sweeten honey wine. During the first half of the 19th Century, salicin, a substance that acts as an antidote for colds, was extracted from the plants. The commercial name for aspirin, is said to have come about from the old scientific name `Spiraea ulmaria` for Meadowsweet.