Flora of North America species comparison

Filipendula ulmaria is cultivated as an ornamental and sometimes escapes. The species is fairly common and relatively persistent or locally spreading from old gardens and thoroughly established well into the wild at some locations in the Maritimes. The native range stretches from Atlantic Europe to eastern Siberia (basin of Lena River), and from the Arctic Circle to the Altai Mountains of southern Siberia.

Two or three varieties or subspecies are often recognized within Europe and Russia in Filipendula ulmaria in the broad sense. Among them, subsp. picbaueri (Podpěra) Smejkal represents a separate species, F. stepposa Juzepczuk, and does not occur in North America. Two other frequently used infraspecific names are subsp. denudata and subsp. ulmaria, the former sometimes also regarded as a separate species. The latter has abaxially grayish tomentose leaves; the former has leaves only minutely hairy along the nerves. The full spectrum of intermediates usually occurs within a single population, and both forms clearly belong to the same species (I. A. Schanzer 1994). Both of them may occur in North America as escapes from cultivation.

The flowers contain tannins and salicylates and are thought to reduce pain and fever, mildly. They have also been used to treat stomach complaints, such as heartburn. Some research in laboratory animals has been conducted to investigate their effectiveness for ulcers, but results are not conclusive. Some laboratory studies appear to show that the flowers and seeds contain a chemical similar to heparin. That and the salicylate component may have some inhibiting effect on blood clotting (O. D. Barnaulov and P. P. Denisenko 1980; S. Foster and J. A. Duke 1990; B. A. Kudriashov et al. 1990, 1991). None of these properties have been documented by well-controlled clinical studies.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Species 15 (4 in the flora).

According to the results of molecular phylogenetic researches (D. R. Morgan et al. 1994; T. Eriksson et al. 2003), Filipendula is phylogenetically the basal genus of subfam. Rosoideae. This readily explains its previously controversial and long-disputed position in Rosaceae; for a long time Filipendula was regarded as part of Spiraea (C. J. Maximowicz 1879; D. B. O. Savile 1968). No taxon closely related to Filipendula is known.

The inflorescence shape is one of the most characteristic features of the genus; it is called an anthela and represents a corymbiform panicle with the proximal branches nearly upright and long overriding the central axis of the inflorescence (A. A. Fedorov and Z. Artjuschenko 1979).

A number of species of Filipendula are used as ornamentals. They have attractive, dense inflorescences of pink to purplish or white flowers and rather decorative, deeply dissected foliage. Among ornamental species, the Japanese F. ×purpurea Maximowicz, the North American F. rubra, and the Eurasian F. ulmaria are noteworthy; these are plants of wet habitats and are mostly used in gardens to fringe ponds. In F. ulmaria, cultivars with double flowers are known. Both F. ulmaria and F. vulgaris were introduced to North America by early colonists, probably as ornamentals.

Filipendula ulmaria is of interest as a medicinal plant; its flowers contain tannins, salicylates, and heparin-like compounds, and were tested for anti-inflammatory and antiulcer activities (O. D. Barnaulov and P. P. Denisenko 1980; B. A. Kudriashov et al. 1990, 1991). Filipendula rubra has been reported to have similar properties (S. Foster and J. A. Duke 1990).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)