Meadowsweet: The Belt of Cù Chulainn

“Aye,” said Math, “let us seek, thou and I, by our magic and enchantment to conjure a wife for him out of flowers”…And then they took the flowers of the oak, and the flowers of the broom, and the flowers of the meadowsweet, and from those they called forth the very fairest and best endowed maiden that mortal ever saw, and baptized her with the baptism they used at that time, and named her Blodeuedd.”

Math Son of Mathonwy, Mabinogion, 13th century

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Cover art by Hans Thoma Forest

Meadowsweet or Filipendula ulmaria is also called queen of the meadow, pride of the meadow, lady of the meadow, meadsweet, meadwort and brideswort. It’s called airgead–luachra in Gaeilge and luibh a’ chneas or luibhean-dìolan and Cneas Chù Chulainn, the ‘belt of Chù Chulainn’ in Scots Gaelic. The name meadowsweet, comes from the Anglo-Saxon term meodu-swete which means ‘mead-sweetener’. Meadowsweet is indeed a true gift to behold. I often sense a playful nature in meadowsweet. It grows thick and tall, often in large groups, demanding attention and notice, aching to be touched, smelled and loved. 

It was used widely and somewhat unanimously throughout Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England to treat generalized pain, cough, cold, fever and sore throat¹ to nervousness, kidney trouble², jaundice and other digestive complaints.^3,4 It was sometimes even washed and eaten raw⁵ or drank in warm weather as a cooling drink⁶ and used both as a spring and autumn tonic.⁷ Most famously, it was thought to be one of the three sacred herbs of the Druids, along with vervain and water-mint.⁸ 

The great hero Cù Chulainn was said to have bathed in meadowsweet to cure a fever. The plant grows particularly abundant in meadows on the Isle of Skye in Scotland where it was said he spent a good portion of his youth training under the warrior hero Scáthach. Meadowsweet grows in abundance near Scáthach’s castle, ‘Dunscaith Castle’ to this day. Meadowsweet has been found with the cremated remains of three people and at least one animal in a Bronze Age Cairn at Fan Foel, Carmarthenshire and North Mains, Strathhallan. An example of one the world’s oldest alcoholic drinks ‘mead’ comes from a cairn at Ashgrove in Fife, Scotland dating from 1000 B.C.E. It was made from two types of honey, lime pollen and meadowsweet.⁹ 

It’s fragrance is said to have been given by the Irish goddess of summer, Áine. It is also linked to the Irish Goddess Medb. Her name has been interpreted as ‘she who intoxicates’. It was said that Celtic homesteads had rushes strewn across the floors for cleanliness and that herbs such as meadowsweet were mixed in for their beautiful fragrance.¹⁰ It was thought to be so intoxicating in fact that it may have lulled people into a deep and possibly fatal sleep.¹¹ 

It was also commonly strewn about for festivals and weddings which gave rise to the nickname ‘brideswort’. Indeed, meadowsweet has quite a pleasant smell and has historically been used as a potpourri and to flavor jams, wine, beer and vinegars. Many people find the fragrance of meadowsweet to be quite haunting and one that stays with them long after the summer blooming season has passed. In the famous Welsh tale of Blodeuwedd ‘flower face’, Gwydion and Math created a woman out of an oak blossom, broom and meadowsweet.

The most notable chemical that meadowsweet owes its medicinal qualities to is salicylic acid, also found in willow bark which is commonly known to decrease pain as an analgesic. It was after studying meadowsweet that Felix Hoffmann created a synthetically altered version of salicin in 1987 and Felix’s employer Bayer, named and patented it ‘aspirin’. An entire new class of drugs were born known as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. 

Meadowsweet is in the Rosaceae family and native throughout most of Europe and Western Asia. Meadowsweet has 3 to 5 lobed, smooth and toothed leaves and creamy to white in color flowers that typically bloom from Midsummer through Autumn and it may have been associated with the Summer Solstice or Lughnasadh. It’s a perennial hardy in zones 3 through 8, grows up to 1.5 m or 5 ft. tall and does well in part shade to sunny areas with moist soil on meadows or banks. It’s somewhat considered a shrub and grows readily in colonies. 

Meadowsweet’s energy is cool and dry. The flowers, flower buds and leaves are all edible and have a sweet to subtly bitter flavor. It’s most commonly used as an infusion, tincture, extract, decoction, balm or salve, oil and poultice. Meadowsweet is best harvested while the plant is in bloom. People should take special care and consideration using this plant that have recently had flu or chickenpox (particularly those under 18 years of age due to Reye’s syndrome), have asthma, are on blood thinners or are allergic to aspirin.

Benefits 

analgesic, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antipyretic, antiviral, astringent, diaphoretic, diarrhea alterative, digestion tonic, diuretic, immune tonic, skin tonic, stimulant, styptic

Recipe

Meadowsweet Tummy Ache Infusion

Ingredients:  1/2 tsp. meadowsweet, 1/2 tsp. chamomile,  1/2 tsp. peppermint, pinch of ginger

Instructions: Mix 8 – 16 oz. or 1 – 2 cups of boiling water and herbs together. Let simmer for at least 10 minutes up to 1 hour. Strain and drink slowly.

References

1. Irish Folk Duchas, The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0963, Page 522
2. Irish Folk Duchas, The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0930, Page 150
3. Irish Folk Duchas, The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0385, Page 055
4. Allen, David and Hatfield, Gabrielle, Medicinal Plants in Folk Tradition: An Ethnobotany of Britain & Ireland, Timber Press, 2004, pg. 140. 
5. Irish Folk Duchas, The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0233, Page 094
6. Irish Folk Duchas, The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0740, Page 106
7. Irish Folk Duchas, The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0657, Page 216
8. Scallan, Christine, Irish Herbal Cures, Gill & Macmillan, 1994, pg 70. 
9. Spencer Hornsey, Ian, A History of Beer and Brewing, Royal Society of Chemistry, 2003, pg. 211.
10. Walkley, Victor, Celtic Daily Life, Robinson, 1998, pg. 98.
11. Uí Chonchubhair, Máirín, Flóra Chorca Dhuibhne: Aspects of the flora of Corca Dhuibhne, 1995, pg. 101. 

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