At its best in sunlit places beside ponds and streams, meadowsweet is also commonly seen on roadside verges and in damp meadows.
It is a member of the rose family (Rosaceae) and sometimes mistakenly assumed to be an umbellifer. This wildflower has an overpowering scent which is pleasant when the flowers first open, but becomes even stronger and almost obnoxious as the flowers fade. The leaves of the plant are dark green and made up of up to five pairs of leaflets with smaller leaves in between.
Meadowsweet is common throughout the UK and in parts of Europe. It flowers from June to September.
The specimens on this page were photographed in West Wales in June.
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