DROPWORT, in botany, the common name for Ulmaria Filipendula (family Rosaceae), found in dry pastures. It is a perennial herb, with much-divided, radical leaves and an erect stem, 2 to 3 ft. high, bearing a loose terminal inflorescence of small white flowers, closely resembling those of the nearly allied Ulmaria palustris, or meadowsweet.
Water dropwort, Oenanthe crocata (family Umbelliferae), is a tall, herbaceous plant growing in marshes and ditches. The stem, which springs from a cluster of thickened roots, is stout, branched, hollow and 2 to 5 ft. high ; the leaves are large and pinnately di. vided, and the flowers are borne in a compound umbel, the long rays bearing dense, partial umbels of small white flowers. The plant, which is very poisonous, is often mistaken for celery.