MEADOWSWEET (Filipendula ulmaria)

Benefits of Meadowsweet Herb for Horses

Meadowsweet – a gentle honey-scented hedgerow botanical with pain and inflammation-soothing, gut and joint-protective benefits – once gave us aspirin, but herbalists have always known the real magic is in the whole plant.

Please note this is a nutritional, functional horse food supplement and not veterinary medicine. For more on this, see Dr Kellon's Horse Sense - Nutrition is not 'Alternative' Therapy .

Find Meadowsweet in the EquiNatural range

A staple proprietary herb at EquiNatural, we use Meadowsweet across many of our support formulas, especially where gut lining sensitivity and heat-based inflammation are at play:

• DuoBute - organic support to manage ongoing chronic discomfort and inflammation
• TriBute - fast-acting support for acute discomfort / inflammation
• EyeTonic - holistic care for comfortable eyes – from everyday irritations to long-term support
• LymeCARE - Lyme disease restoration programme
• MellowMare - natural organic hormone harmony for calmer, happier mares
• SiboCARE - effective equine hindgut dysbiosis/SIBO stabiliser
• UlsaTonic - supports Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome (EGUS)

Feed Guide

💧Organic Meadowsweet Tincture

Our human-grade, certified organic tinctures give you a ready-to-absorb potent source of phytonutrients at the highest-strength available, for immediate absorption straight into the bloodstream and to the body’s cells.

• Filipendula ulmaria
• Flowering Tops
• Infused 1:3 35%
• Organically Cultivated

~ Feed Guide - meadowsweet tincture for horses

• 6ml/100kg bodyweight, daily in feed.
• ♻️ Our tinctures come in a heat-sealed, twin-neck, child-resistant HDPE plastic dosing bottle, complete with dosing chamber. *HDPE (High-Density Polyethylene) plastic is 100% recyclable, and energy-efficient to produce. Safe for food/water storage, it reduces waste and emissions while resisting wear. A top sustainable choice to match the EquiNatural ethos.

🌿Organic Dried Meadowsweet Herb

Grown, harvested and dried without the use of agri-chemicals, non-irradiated and GMO free - see our Quality page for Quality Management & Certification Documents.

• Filipendula ulmaria
• Flowering Tops
• Summer: Origin UK, Organically/Biodynamically Cultivated ( Grown especially for us organically and biodynamically by Organic Herb Trading Co. https://www.biodynamics.com/what-is-biodynamics )
• Winter: Origin Poland, Wild Harvested

~ Feed Guide - dried meadowsweet herb for horses

• 5g/100kg bodyweight per day, i.e. 25g for a 500kg horse.
• Want a scoop? You can add a scoop to your basket during checkout.
• ♻️Supplied in a 100% fully recylable, resealable, food-grade foil pouch for freshness.

Footnotes

• Laboratory tested for identification and compliance to the British and European Pharmacopoeia standards.
• Human grade.
• Please be aware that if you're purchasing our dried botanicals for human use, our dried range is cut to appropriate sizes for feeding to horses.
• ♻️ Eco Note: Our packaging is recyclable and refillable.
• 🧊 Storage Tip: Keep cool and dry.

Functional Nutritional Value

Constituents: Volatile oil, glycosides of salicylaldehyde, methylsalicylate, and salicyl alcohol (spiraein, monotropin, gaultherin); flavonoids (flavonols, flavones, flavonones and chalcone derivatives), up to 6% in flowers and 3-4% in aerial parts; polyphenolics and hydrolyzable tannins, including ellagitannins; phenylcarboxylic acids; coumarin; vitamin C; a heparin-like substance also concentrated in the flowers.

Safety/Contraindications

• Always seek veterinary advice for pregnant/nursing mares before feeding.
• Meadowsweet contains Salicylic acid which is a controlled substance, so always check competition rules.
• Salicylates may affect metabolism of iron, so should be taken a few hours apart from taking iron supplements.
• Meadowsweet (flowers in particular) may interact with coumadin or other blood thinners.

Meadowsweet in History & Tradition

Meadowsweet is one of those herbs that feels like an old friend. Graceful and fragrant, she’s been by our side for thousands of years – soothing pain, protecting the gut, and perfuming celebrations from weddings to wakes.

Used for millennia across Europe, meadowsweet’s story begins as far back as Neolithic times, with traces found in ceremonial drinks and ancient burial rites. She was revered by the Druids as one of their three most sacred herbs, alongside vervain and water-mint. In medieval Britain, her sweet aroma was prized for masking unpleasant odours, and her strewing presence signified honour and joy. The name ‘meadwort’ reminds us of her historic use in brewing – she was once a key botanical in meads, wines, and ales.

But meadowsweet isn’t just a pretty, perfumed face. She's a tried-and-tested healer, especially when it comes to gastrointestinal comfort and pain relief. The aerial parts – leaf, flower, and stem – are cooling, soothing, mildly astringent, and wonderfully anti-inflammatory. Traditionally, she was used to settle upset tummies, ease diarrhoea, calm acid reflux, heal ulcers, and address what Culpeper described as “fluxes of the bowels of all sorts.”

This reputation continued into the medical texts of the 18th and 19th centuries. In King’s Dispensatory (1898), Felter and Lloyd documented her as a go-to remedy for dyspepsia, passive haemorrhage, and gastrointestinal irritation. Frank Roberts, writing in the 1950s, went so far as to call her a “true normaliser of a badly functioning stomach,” capable of regulating both acidity and alkalinity. That’s quite the claim – and one that still rings true in modern herbal practice.

Herbal Aspirin’s Herbal Origins

Meadowsweet holds a special place in the story of modern medicine. Her salicylate-rich chemistry inspired the development of aspirin – originally derived from her old botanical name Spiraea ulmaria. While the pharmaceutical world went on to isolate and refine salicylic acid into aspirin, herbalists have always known that the whole plant offers a gentler, gut-friendly form of pain relief, especially compared to its synthetic offspring.

Unlike aspirin, meadowsweet doesn’t irritate the stomach lining – quite the opposite, in fact. Its protective mucilage and buffering tannins make it ideal for conditions like gastritis, ulcers, and gut inflammation. It’s a classic example of how the whole herb can deliver far more nuanced support than any isolated compound.

Pain and Inflammation

Meadowsweet’s pain-relieving action shines brightest in hot, fixed pain – pounding headaches, burning joint discomfort, and musculoskeletal tension. Its salicylate content acts as a natural analgesic and anti-inflammatory, while also promoting gentle diuresis – making it especially helpful in conditions like gout or acute arthritic flare-ups where excess uric acid needs clearing.

There’s also evidence to suggest that meadowsweet may act as a trophorestorative to connective tissue, gently supporting collagen stability and healing over time. It’s often used in blends to ease sciatica, osteoarthritis, and post-viral pain patterns.

Beyond Pain – Diaphoretic, Protective, and Calming

Meadowsweet is also a cooling diaphoretic – helpful for reducing heat and promoting healthy perspiration in feverish conditions. In eruptive illnesses like chickenpox and measles, her soothing and anti-inflammatory nature brings comfort to both internal and external symptoms, helping to manage discomfort and support skin resilience.

In terms of energetics, meadowsweet is cooling and drying, particularly well suited to hot, inflamed, or irritated tissue states. She brings a sense of peace and softness – to the gut, the joints, and the nervous system.

🌿Meadowsweet Trivia - the Herb Behind Aspirin & Ancient Magic

Did you know the modern pharmaceutical aspirin owes its name to meadowsweet’s old botanical name Spiraea ulmaria ? When Bayer first synthesised acetyl salicylic acid in 1899, they honoured meadowsweet’s salicin-rich chemistry – but herbalists have known for centuries that the whole plant offers pain relief without the gut irritation.

But that’s not all. Meadowsweet has been enchanting humans for thousands of years. In Neolithic Scotland, traces of it were found in ancient drinking vessels. It was a Druidic sacred herb, used in ceremonies and burial rites. And in medieval Britain, it was strewn on floors for celebration and scent, its sweet aroma covering up the less-than-sweet odours of daily life.

In folklore, meadowsweet is said to bring joy to the heart, relief to the grieving, and blessing to the newlywed. It was one of the favourite herbs of Queen Elizabeth I, who used it to perfume her private chambers.

A herb of comfort, ceremony, and chemistry – Meadowsweet is where nature meets ancient ritual and modern science.