broadleaf meadowsweet

(Spiraea alba var. latifolia)

Conservation Status

 

No image available

 
  IUCN Red List

not listed

     
  NatureServe

N5 - Secure

SNR - Unranked

     
  Minnesota

not listed

     
           
Wetland Indicator Status
     
  Midwest

FACW - Facultative wetland

     
  Northcentral & Northeast

FACW - Facultative wetland

     
           
 
Description
 
 

Broadleaf meadowsweet is an erect, perennial, usually unbranched shrub with a woody root. It may form tall, dense thickets.

The bark is gray or reddish-brown and smooth. When it ages the bark becomes papery and peels off in fine strips.

Young twigs are green, leafy, and covered with minute, fine, soft hairs. Later they become hairless and develop purplish-brown or reddish-brown bark. They do not have thorns.

Buds are long-pointed and silky. Leaf scars are raised and have just 1 bundle scar.

The leaves are alternate, hairless, crowded, and deciduous. They are broadly oblong to broadly inverse–lance-shaped, with the attachment at the narrow end. They are unlobed, 2 to 3 times as long as wide, 2 to 3 long, and to 13 16 wide. The margins have coarse, blunt teeth. The upper surface is medium green and hairless. The lower surface pale green is hairless. They are attached to the twig in short, 1 16 to long leaf stalks.

The inflorescence is an erect, branched, cluster of many small flowers at the end of the stem or a branch. It is pyramid-shaped, longer than wide, 2 to 6 long. The flower stems and flower cups are hairless or nearly hairless.

The flowers are ¼ wide and slightly fuzzy. They have 5 white, rarely pinkish, petals, 5 light green sepals, and 20 or more long stamens. The sepals are acute and spreading, but do not bend backward when the flowers are fully open. The petals are much longer than the sepals.

The fruit is a group of 5 dry, brown, hairless pods with short beaks. They contain 2 to 5 seeds.

 
     
 

Height

 
 

3 to 6

 
     
 

Flower Color

 
 

White, rarely pinkish

 
     
 

Similar Species

 
 

Narrow-leaved meadowsweet (Spiraea alba var. alba) twigs are dull brown or yellowish-brown. Twig color, however, is an unreliable indicator because the color is variable. Leaves are narrower, 3 to 4 times as long as wide. Leaf margins have finer, sharper teeth. The inflorescence is evidently hairy. The sepals are obtuse. It is found in moist to wet locations.

Steeplebush (Spiraea tomentosa) is a much shorter plant, usually less than 3 tall. The leaves have a dense, reddish-brown fuzz on the underside. The sepals are not spreading but bend backward when the flowers are fully open. The flower petals are pink or rose-purple. The fruit is hairy.

 
     
 
Habitat
 
 

Moist to wet. Meadows, bogs, swamps, thickets, streambanks, shorelines. Full sun to part shade.

 
     
 
Ecology
 
 

Flowering

 
 

June to August

 
     
 

Pests and Diseases

 
 

 

 
     
 
Use
 
 

 

 
     
 
Distribution
 
 

Distribution Map

 

Sources

4, 29, 30.

 
  3/6/2023      
         
 

Nativity

 
 

Native

 
         
 

Occurrence

 
 

According to Minnesota State Botanist Welby Smith, var. latifolia is not found in Minnesota but intermediates between var. latifolia and var. alba can be found throughout the state.

 
         
 
Taxonomy
 
  Kingdom Plantae (green algae and land plants)  
  Subkingdom Viridiplantae (green plants)  
  Infrakingdom Streptophyta (land plants and green algae)  
  Superdivision Embryophyta (land plants)  
  Division Tracheophyta (vascular plants)  
  Subdivision Spermatophytina (seed plants)  
  Class Magnoliopsida (flowering plants)  
  Superorder Rosanae  
 

Order

Rosales (roses, elms, figs, and allies)  
 

Family

Rosaceae (rose)  
  Subfamily Amygdaloideae  
  Tribe Spiraeeae  
 

Genus

Spiraea (meadowsweet)  
  Species Spiraea alba (white meadowsweet)  
       
 

The genus Spiraea was formerly included in the subfamily Spiraeoideae. A reanalysis in 2007 found that Spiraeoideae contained all descendants of a common ancestor except a few – it was paraphyletic, and therefore invalid. In 2011, the subfamily Amygdaloideae was redefined adding the former Spiraeoideae and Maloideae.

 
       
 

Subordinate Taxa

 
 

 

 
       
 

Synonyms

 
  Spiraea latifolia  
       
 

Common Names

 
 

broadleaf meadowsweet

broad-leaved meadowsweet

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glossary

Acute

Referring to leaf shapes that taper to a pointed tip with more or less straight sides, the angle at the tip less than 90°.

 

Beak

A comparatively short and stout, narrow or prolonged tip on a thickened organ, as on some fruits and seeds.

 

Obtuse

Referring to leaf shapes that taper to a broad tip with more or less straight sides, the angle at the tip more than 90°.

 
 
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  Broadleaf Meadowsweet (Spiraea latifolia)
Andree Reno Sanborn
 
  Broadleaf Meadowsweet (Spiraea latifolia)  

 

slideshow

       
 
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