Filipendula

Filipendula
Filipendula ulmaria
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Rosids
Order:	Rosales
Family:	Rosaceae
Subfamily:	Rosoideae
Genus:	Filipendula Miller
Species
Filipendula angustiloba Filipendula glaberrima Filipendula kamtschatica Filipendula kiraishiensis Filipendula multijuga Filipendula occidentalis Filipendula palmata Filipendula purpurea Filipendula rubra Filipendula ulmaria Filipendula vestita Filipendula vulgaris

Filipendula is a genus of 12 species of perennial herbaceous flowering plants in the family Rosaceae, native to the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Well-known species include Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria) and Dropwort (Filipendula vulgaris), both native to Europe, and Queen-of-the-forest (Filipendula occidentalis) and Queen-of-the-prairie (Filipendula rubra), native to North America.

The species grow to between 0.5–2 m tall, with large inflorescences of small five-petalled flowers, creamy-white to pink-tinged in most species, dark pink in F. rubra. Filipendula fruit are unusual, sometimes described as an indehiscent follicle, or as an achene.^[1]

Filipendula species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species: Emperor Moth, Grey Pug, Grizzled Skipper, Hebrew Character, Lime-speck Pug, Mottled Beauty and The Satellite have all been recorded on Meadowsweet.

The species were in the past sometimes treated in a broad view of the genus Spiraea, but genetic research has shown that they are less closely related than previously considered.

References

1. "Flora of China online".