MEADOWS ARE STILL SWEET

Walking near the sailing club at Oldbury-on-Severn we saw Meadowsweet in flower.

Usually at this time of year you would only expect to see the leaves 

but here were several plants merrily in flower.  

The foamy spray of flowers has a heady, sweet fragrance. 

The leaves however have a medical smell, like germolene.  Apparently the plant used to be known in Yorkshire as 'courtship and matrimony':  the sweet perfume of the flowers for courtship and the more astringent smell of the leaves for the reality of marriage. 

As well as the smell you can identify the leaves which have up to nine leaflets on each stalk with tiny leaflets interspersed between the larger ones.