''Filipendula'' is a genus of 12 species of

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wid ...

herbaceous

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

s in the family Rosaceae, native to the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Well-known species include meadowsweet (''

Filipendula ulmaria ''Filipendula ulmaria'', commonly known as meadowsweet or mead wort, is a perennial herbaceous plant in the family Rosaceae that grows in damp meadows. It is native throughout most of Europe and Western Asia (Near east and Middle east). It has ...

'') and dropwort (''

Filipendula vulgaris ''Filipendula vulgaris'', commonly known as dropwort or fern-leaf dropwort, is a perennial herbaceous plant in the family Rosaceae, closely related to meadowsweet (''Filipendula ulmaria''). It is found in dry pastures across much of Europe an ...

''), both native to Europe, and queen-of-the-forest ('' Filipendula occidentalis'') and queen-of-the-prairie (''

Filipendula rubra ''Filipendula rubra'', also known as queen-of-the-prairie, is a species of flowering plant in the family Rosaceae native to the northeastern and central United States and southeastern Canada. It prefers full sun or partial shade and moist soil, ...

''), native to North America. The species grow to between 0.5–2 m tall, with large

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...

s of small five-petalled

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

s, 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. ''Filipendula'' species are used as food plants by the

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. ...

e of some Lepidoptera species:

emperor moth The Saturniinae or saturniines are a subfamily of the family Saturniidae. They are commonly known as emperor moths or wild silk moths. They are easily spotted by the eyespots on the upper surface of their wings. Some exhibit realistic eye-like m ...

grey pug The grey pug (''Eupithecia subfuscata'') is a moth of the family Geometridae. It is found throughout the Palearctic region. It is also found in North America. Since it does not place any special demands on climatic conditions, special caterpilla ...

grizzled skipper ''Pyrgus'' is a genus in the skippers butterfly family, Hesperiidae, known as the grizzled skippers. The name "checkered" or "chequered skipper" may also be applied to some species, but also refers to species in the genera '' Burnsius'' and '' ...

Hebrew character The Hebrew character (''Orthosia gothica'') is a moth in the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae''. It is found throughout Europe. Both the common and binomial names ...

lime-speck pug The lime-speck pug (''Eupithecia centaureata'') is a moth of the family Geometridae. It is a common species throughout the Palearctic region (where it is found in Europe, Central Asia, Mongolia, southern Siberia, eastern China (Guangdong) and Ta ...

mottled beauty The mottled beauty (''Alcis repandata'') is a moth of the family Geometridae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae''. Subspecies and forms Subspecies and forms include: *''Alcis repan ...

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 ''Spiraea'' , sometimes spelled spirea in common names, and commonly known as meadowsweets or steeplebushes, is a genus of about 80 to 100 species

'', but genetic research has shown that they are less closely related than previously considered. The genus name ''Filipendula'' derives from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

words "thread" and "hanging", referring to the

tuber Tubers are a type of enlarged structure used as storage organs for nutrients in some plants. They are used for the plant's perennation (survival of the winter or dry months), to provide energy and nutrients for regrowth during the next growin ...

s of '' F. vulgaris'', which are attached to one other by thread-like roots.

References

External links

* * Rosoideae Rosaceae genera Taxa named by Philip Miller {{Rosoideae-stub