Spiraea alba var. latifolia

Native

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

June to August

White, rarely pinkish

3′ to 6′

This 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 2¾″ long, and ⅜″ to ¾″ 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 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.

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.