Die 0,5 bis 1,5 m hoch wachsende, mehrjährige Pflanze findet sich auf feuchten Wiesen, in Sumpfgebieten und an Ufern von Gewässern in Mitteleuropa, Nordamerika und Nordasien. Im Sommer bilden die zahlreichen gelblichweißen Blüten lockere Dolden, die an Zuckerwatte erinnern.
Medizinisch verwendet werden die Blüten, aber auch das zur Blütezeit gesammelte Kraut. Filipendula ulmaria, commonly known as Meadowsweet, is a perennial herb in the family Rosaceae, which grows in damp meadows. Meadowsweet has delicate, graceful, creamy-white flowers clustered close together in handsome irregularly-branched cymes, having a very strong, sweet smell. They flower from June to early September. The whole herb possesses a pleasant taste and flavour, the green parts having a similar aromatic character to the flowers, leading to the use of the plant as a strewing herb, strewn on floors to give the rooms a pleasant aroma, and its use to flavour wine, beer and many vinegars. The flowers can be added to stewed fruit and jams, giving them a subtle almond flavor. It has many medicinal properties.
