36S ICOSANDRIA— PENTAGYNIA. Spiraea. 



Nat. Ord. see n. 250. 



Cat, inferior, of 1 leaf, nearly flat at the base ; with 5 acute, 

 permanent, marginal segments. Pet. 5, roundish or ob- 

 long, attached by their claws to the rim of the calyx. Fi- 

 lam. more than 20, from the rim of the calyx, capillary, 

 wavy, nearly as long as the corolla. Anth. roundish, of 

 2 lobes. Germ. 5 or more, superior, ovate or oblong, 

 compressed, each terminating in a short stout sfi/le. Stig- 

 mas spreading, obtuse. Caps, as many as the germens, 

 oblong, pointed, more or less compressed, each of 2 ra- 

 ther membranous valves, and 1 cell. Seeds few, small, 

 oblong, pendulous from the outer margin of each valve. 



The seed-vessels are bivalve capsules, not follicles as they 

 have recently been termed. The number of pistils is 

 various. 



Plants either shrubby or herbaceous, generally smooth. 

 Leaves alternate, simple or compound, entire, notched, 

 or serrated. Injlorescence various. Fl. white, or reddish. 

 Qiiality astringent. 



1. ^. salici/olia. Willow-leaved Spirsea. 



Leaves elliptic-lanceolate, unequally serrated, smooth. Clus- 

 ters terminal, compound. 



S. salicifolia. Linn. Sp. PI 700. Wllld. v. 2. \055. H.Br. 535. 

 Engl. Bot. v.2\.t. 1468. With. 463. Hull ed. 2. 147. Hook. 

 Scot. 152. Don H. Br. 32. Pall. Ross. v. 1. 36. /. 21. Ehrh. 

 Beitr. v. 7. 136. Select. 146. 



S. n. 47. Gmel. Sib. v. 3. 1 88. t. 39. 



S. Theophrasti forte. Clus. Hist. v. 1 . 84. /. Ger. Em. 1 60 1 . /. 

 Bauh. Hist. v.\. 559. f. 



S. salicis folio. Tourn. Inst. 618. Duham. Arh. v. 2. 277. t. 75. 



In swampy, sliady, mountainous situations. 



In moist hedges in Westmoreland, and on the borders of Winan- 

 dermere ; Mr. Gough ; near Hawkshead, Cumberland ; Mr. 

 Dalton. Withering. Wild in several parts of the south of Scot- 

 land. G. Don, Hooker. 1 believe it to be wild also at Hafod, 

 Cardiganshire, the situation in which it grows being perfectly 

 similar to its native swamps in the north of Europe, 



Shrub. July. 



About 4 feet high, with several smooth, wand-like, branched, leafy 

 stems, the branches round, of a tawny hue. Leaves alternate, 

 on short bordered stalks, elliptic-lanceolate, or oblong, varying 

 in breadth and acuteness, veiny, smooth on both sides, sharply 

 and unequally serrated, deciduous, each about an inch and half 

 long. Stipulas none. FL pink, inodorous, small, numerous, in 



