SPIR.EA 533 



broadly obovate, J- to rl- ins. long, J to i in. wide : toothe'd only at the apex, 

 slightly downy of smooth beneath, with three distinct veins running length- 

 wise. Flowers white, small, produced during May in small hemispherical 

 umbels at the end of short, leafy twigs. 



Native of S.E. Europe, the Caucasus, Siberia, etc.; long known in cultiva- 

 tion. From its immediate allies (S. alpina and S. cana) its three veins 

 running the whole length of the leaf distinguish it. It is also often confused 

 with S. hypericifolia, but that species has its flowers wholly or almost wholly 

 in stalkless umbels. There is a hybrid between S. crenata and cana called 

 S. CONFERTA, Zabel, which has three-veined leaves like S. crenata, but more 

 and persistently downy. 



S. DECUMBENS, W. Koch. 

 (S. procumbens in gardens.) 



A dwarf shrub, 3 to 8 ins. high, with slender, smooth, often prostrate 

 stems, from which the thin, wiry flowering branches ascend. Leaves obovate 

 or oval, tapered at both ends, sharply, angularly and rather coarsely toothed 

 towards the apex; \ to i^ ins. long, j to \ in. wide; quite smooth on both 

 surfaces; stalk about \ in", long. Flowers white, in. across; seed-vessels 

 smooth, with the sepals deflexed. 



Native of the Tyrol, especially in the Carnic Alps. It is a pleasing little 

 shrub, one of the dwarfest of Spiraeas, and very suitable for the rock garden. 



S. HACQUETII, Fenzl (S. decumbens var. tomentosa, Poech}. A dwarf 

 shrub similar in habit to S. decumbens, but differing in the young bark, 

 leaves, flower-stalk, and calyx being downy; in the more prominent nerves 

 beneath the leaf, which on the whole is proportionately narrower, and not 

 so coarsely toothed; also by the sepals being more erect in fruit. Native of 

 N. Italy and the Tyrol. 



S. DISCOLOR, Pursh. 

 (S. ariaefolia, Smith ; Holodiscus discolor, Ascherson^) 



A large deciduous shrub, usually 8 to 12 ft. high, considerably more in 

 width. Stems erect at the base, but branching and gracefully arching or 

 pendulous at the top; young branches downy and slightly ridged. Leaves 

 ovate, with a straight or broadly wedge-shaped base; 2 to 3^ ins. long, i^ to 

 3 ins. wide on the barren stems, smaller on the flowering branches; each 

 margin cut up into four to eight lobes which are themselves sharply toothed; 

 upper surface slightly hairy, lower one covered with a grey felt; stalk to 

 f in. long. Flowers creamy white, small, produced during July in pendulous, 

 plume-like panicles 4 to 12 ins. long; flower-stalks and calyx downy. Fruit 

 an achene, non-splitting, woolly. 



Native of Western N. America; introduced by Douglas in 1827. It is 

 better known in gardens as S. ariaefolia an appropriate name recalling the 

 resemblance of its leaves to those of some of the Aria group of Pyrus, but 

 given to the plant five years later than Pursh's name of 1814. In any selection 

 of Spiraeas this must be placed in the best half-dozen. It produces an 

 extraordinary profusion of blossom, and is exceedingly graceful in habit. 

 Many fine plants are scattered over the south of England; there is one at 

 Saltwood, in Kent, 12 ft. high and 40 ft. across. In 1906, in Sir A. Buchan- 

 Hepburn's grounds in E. Lothian, I saw one 20 ft. high. This shrub is seen 

 to best advantage as an isolated specimen with a dark green background, 

 say of holly. In thin woodland it also thrives admirably, as one may see it 

 in the beautiful demesne of Dropmore. 



