Spiraea alba | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Rosales |
Family: | Rosaceae |
Genus: | Spiraea |
Species: | S. alba |
Binomial name | |
Spiraea alba | |
Synonyms [1] | |
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Spiraea alba, commonly known as meadowsweet, [2] white meadowsweet, [3] narrowleaf meadowsweet, [4] pale bridewort, [5] or pipestem, [6] is native to the wet soils of the Allegheny Mountains and other portions of eastern North America, [7] but is currently endangered in the state of Missouri. It is naturalized in other parts of the world. [2]
Narrowleaf meadowsweet shrubs often reach 8 feet in height with a spread of 3–4 feet. This species is often the most conspicuous part of the vegetation in its habitat, taking up large areas of ground. Its leaves are glossy yellow-green, oblong or lance-shaped, and toothed on the edges, and its twigs are tough and yellowish brown. Fall foliage is golden yellow. The white and sometimes pink fragrant flowers grow in spike-like clusters at the ends of the branches, blooming from early summer through September. The brown fruit, which persists after flowering, is a distinctive feature of all Spiraea species. [8]
Butterflies and other beneficial insects visit the plant for nectar and pollen. In autumn brown seed capsules appear and are fed on by songbirds. Glossy green foliage turns yellow in the fall. Deer tend to leave this plant alone. Meadowsweet is a host plant for the larvae of the spring azure butterfly (Celastrina argiolus).
The blooms make a good cut flower.
The hollow, upright stems were used historically as pipe stems. [6]
Quercus alba, the white oak, is one of the preeminent hardwoods of eastern and central North America. It is a long-lived oak, native to eastern and central North America and found from Minnesota, Ontario, Quebec, and southern Maine south as far as northern Florida and eastern Texas. Specimens have been documented to be over 450 years old.
Cornus florida, the flowering dogwood, is a species of flowering tree in the family Cornaceae native to eastern North America and northern Mexico. An endemic population once spanned from southernmost coastal Maine south to northern Florida and west to the Mississippi River. The tree is commonly planted as an ornamental in residential and public areas because of its showy bracts and interesting bark structure.
Ficaria verna, commonly known as lesser celandine or pilewort, is a low-growing, hairless perennial flowering plant in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae native to Europe and Western Asia. It has fleshy dark green, heart-shaped leaves and distinctive flowers with bright yellow, glossy petals. It is now introduced in North America, where it is known by the common name fig buttercup and considered an invasive species. The plant is poisonous if ingested raw and potentially fatal to grazing animals and livestock such as horses, cattle, and sheep. For these reasons, several US states have banned the plant or listed it as a noxious weed. It prefers bare, damp ground and is considered by horticulturalists in the United Kingdom as a persistent garden weed; nevertheless, many specialist plantsmen, nursery owners and discerning gardeners in the UK and Europe collect selected cultivars of the plant, including bronze-leaved and double-flowered ones. Emerging in late winter with flowers appearing late February through May in the UK, its appearance across the landscape is regarded by many as a harbinger of spring.
Lathyrus latifolius, the perennial peavine, perennial pea, broad-leaved everlasting-pea, or just everlasting pea, is a robust, sprawling herbaceous perennial flowering plant in the pea family Fabaceae. It is native to Europe but is present on other continents, such as North America and Australia, where it is most often seen along roadsides.
Spiraea, sometimes spelled spirea in common names, and commonly known as meadowsweets or steeplebushes, is a genus of about 80 to 100 species of shrubs in the family Rosaceae. They are native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere, with the greatest diversity in eastern Asia.
Spiraea tomentosa, commonly known as steeplebush, meadowsweet, or hardhack, or eastern hardhack, is a flowering plant native to the eastern United States and Canada.
Spiraea douglasii is a species of flowering plant in the rose family native to western North America. Common names include hardhack,hardhack steeplebush, Douglas' spirea, douglasspirea, steeplebush, and rose spirea.
Cornus sericea, the red osier or red-osier dogwood, is a species of flowering plant in the family Cornaceae, native to much of North America. It has sometimes been considered a synonym of the Asian species Cornus alba. Other names include red brush, red willow, redstem dogwood, redtwig dogwood, red-rood, American dogwood, creek dogwood, and western dogwood.
Lavandula angustifolia, formerly L. officinalis, is a flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae, native to the Mediterranean. Its common names include lavender, true lavender and English lavender ; also garden lavender, common lavender and narrow-leaved lavender.
Acer ginnala, the Amur maple, is a plant species with woody stems native to northeastern Asia from easternmost Mongolia east to Korea and Japan, and north to the Russian Far East in the Amur River valley. It is a small maple with deciduous leaves that is sometimes grown as a garden subject or boulevard tree.
Papaver nudicaule, the Iceland poppy, is a boreal flowering plant. Equivalence with Papaver croceum has been contested. Native to subpolar regions of Asia and North America, and the mountains of Central Asia as well as temperate China, Iceland poppies are hardy but short-lived perennials, often grown as biennials, that yield large, papery, bowl-shaped, lightly fragrant flowers supported by hairy, 1 foot (30 cm) curved stems among feathery blue-green foliage 1-6 inches long. They were first described by botanists in 1759. The wild species blooms in white or yellow, and is hardy from USDA Zones 3a-10b.
Oemleria cerasiformis, a shrub commonly known as osoberry or Indian plum, is the sole species in genus Oemleria.
Ilex decidua is a species of holly native to the United States.
Anaphalis margaritacea, commonly known as the western pearly everlasting or pearly everlasting, is an Asian and North American species of flowering perennial plant in the family Asteraceae.
Spiraea japonica, the Japanese meadowsweet or Japanese spiraea, is a plant in the family Rosaceae.
Spiraea thunbergii (珍珠绣线菊), Thunberg spiraea or Thunberg's meadowsweet, is a species of flowering plant in the rose family, native to East China and Japan, and widely cultivated elsewhere.
Sambucus racemosa is a species of elderberry known by the common names red elderberry and red-berried elder.
Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus is a species of shrub in the family Asteraceae of the Americas known by the common names yellow rabbitbrush and green rabbitbrush.
Rhus aromatica, the fragrant sumac, is a deciduous shrub in the family Anacardiaceae native to North America. It is found in southern Canada and nearly all of the lower 48 states except peninsular Florida.
Crepis tectorum, commonly referred to as the narrowleaf hawksbeard or narrow-leaved hawk's-beard, is an annual or winter annual plant between 30 and 100 centimetres in height. Originating in Siberia before being introduced to Canada in 1890, the narrowleaf hawksbeard's is an invasive species. Maintaining one branched, hairless and leafy stem during maturity, the narrowleaf hawksbeard has yellow leaves which are arranged in an alternate manner and less than 0.5 inches (13 mm) wide.