This easy to grow been possesses a pleasant taste and flavor, the green parts having a similar aromatic character to the flowers, leading to the use of Meadowsweet as a strewing herb, strewn on floors to give the rooms a pleasant aroma, and its use to flavor wine, beer, and many vinegars. The flowers can be added to stewed fruit and jams, giving them a subtle almond flavor. It has many medicinal properties. The whole plant is a traditional remedy for an acidic stomach. Dried, the flowers are used in potpourri. It is also a frequently used spice in Scandinavian varieties of mead. ~ Invention of Aspirin ~ In 1897, a chemist employed by Bayer AG, by the name of Felix Hoffmann used the meadowsweet herb to creat a synthetically altered version of salicin, which caused less digestive upset than pure salicylic acid derived from the willow tree. The new drug, formally acetylsalicylic acid, was named "aspirin" after the old botanical name for meadowsweet, Spiraea ulmaria. This gave rise to the class of drugs known as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). A small section of root, when peeled and crushed smells like Germolene, and when chewed is a good natural remedy for relieving headaches. Chemical constituents include salicylic acid, flavoneglycosides, essential oils, and tannins.