Filipendula

{{short description|Genus of plants}}

{{More citations needed|date=September 2014}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| image = Filipendula-ulmaria.JPG

| image_caption = Filipendula ulmaria

| display_parents = 2

| taxon = Filipendula

| authority = Mill. (1754)

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision =

• 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,{{cite web |title=Filipendula vulgaris, Dropwort: identification, distribution, habitat |url=https://www.first-nature.com/flowers/filipendula-vulgaris.php |website=First Nature |access-date=30 December 2021}} and queen-of-the-forest (Filipendula occidentalis) and queen-of-the-prairie (Filipendula rubra), native to North America.{{cite web|title=Filipendula rubra (Queen of the prairie)|url=https://www.wildflower.org/gallery/result.php?id_image=32659|access-date=30 December 2021|website=Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center}}

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.{{eFloras|2|112789 |last1=Li |first1=Chaoluan |first2=Hiroshi |last2=Ikeda |first3=Hideaki |last3=Ohba |volume=9}}

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.{{cite web |title=Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria) - Woodland Trust |url=https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/plants/wild-flowers/meadowsweet/ |website=Woodland trust}}

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.

The genus name Filipendula derives from the Latin words {{lang|la|filum}} "thread" and {{lang|la|pendulus}} "hanging", referring to the tubers of F. vulgaris, which are attached to one other by thread-like roots.{{eFloras|1 |first=Ivan A. |last=Schanzer |volume=9}}