86 Rose (Rosacece) 



(2) Genus SPIR^A, L. (Meadow-Sweet, etc.) 



Flowers, white to rose-color, crowded in rounded or pyra- 

 mid-shaped or steeple-shaped clusters. Petals, five, 

 reverse egg-shape. Stamens, ten to fifty. Seed-cases, 

 mostly five, distinct, one-celled, several-seeded. 



Leaves, simple, alternate, toothed. 



Fruit, a dry, simple case (usually in clusters of five), with 

 one cell and several long, slim seeds ; a follicle, or a 

 cluster of follicles. 



Fig. 32. Meadow-Sweet. S. salitifblia, L. 



Flowers, small, white or tinged with rose, crowded in 

 rounded and pyramid-shaped terminal clusters. Seed- 

 cases, five, smooth. July, August. 



Leaves, one and one half to three inches long, smooth or 

 nearly so, oval to reverse egg-shape, singly or doubly 

 sharp-toothed, base pointed or rounded. Apex, 

 pointed. 



Fruit, as above. 



Found, from Georgia northward and westward, most 



abundantly in low grounds. 

 A shrub three to four feet high, erect, with polished 



copper-colored or purplish brittle stem, ornamental in 



cultivation. 



Fig. 33- Birch-Leaved Spiraea. S. corymbbsa, Raf. 

 This species differs chiefly in the following items : 

 Flowers, in large, flat clusters. Seed-cases, three to five. 

 Leaves, broad oval or ovate, toothed only toward the apex. 

 Found, in the mountains of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, 

 southward to Georgia, and westward to Kentucky 

 and Missouri. 

 A shrub one to two feet high. 



