234 I^HE ROSE FAMILY. 



tree, an incident suggested perhaps by the shrub's generic name. The com- 

 mon name which would naturally recall one of the hydrangeas, is in ref- 

 erence to a trick of the bark in peeling not nine but many times into 

 dilapidated looking stripes. Along river banks or in rocky places the shrub 

 selects its natural home. It also does well and is desirable in cultivation. 



VIRGINIA SPIR/EA. 



Spirka Virginidiia. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Rose. White. Scetiiless. IFest Firghiia to Juiu\ 



North Carotitta. 



Flcnvers : perfect; growing on pedicels in teimina], compound corymbs. Calyx : 

 five-lobed ; persistent. Pe/a/s : Rve, short-clawed and inserted on the calyx. 

 Sta^neus : numerous. Leaves : simple, with slender petioles and often two small 

 early-falling stipules at their bases ; long oblong, or oblanceolate, bluntly pointed 

 at the apex and tapering, or wedge-shaped at the base ; almost entire ; thin ; 

 bright green above, paler and glaucous underneath. A shrub with branches one 

 to four feet long ; glabrous. 



What we expect from the spirseas in the flowering season is masses of 

 dainty, light blossoms packed snugly together. This one of the group is 

 shade loving and grows closely to damp rocks to there produce its bloom 

 at the end of long, wand-like branches. Perhaps we are a little disappointed 

 with it, and think it rather poor-looking in comparison with some of its 

 more common relatives. There is satisfaction, however, in knowing it to 

 be a rare plant. 



S. tomejitosa, steeple-bush, or hardback, is a most familiar sight as 

 through moist meadows and near swamp borders it raises in the late 

 summer its compact, steeple-shaped panicle of peach-blow pink. And very 

 fleecy and small are its numerous flowers which produce this unusual 

 opaque-looking colour. The plant stands erectly and would in any case be 

 distinguishable among the spir^as by the dense, woolly tomentum which 

 covers the underside of the leaves, its stem and short pedicels. 



5. salicifblia, meadow-sweet with its small white or pinkish-white 

 bloom, is a charming individual and possibly the most widely distributed of 

 the spiraeas. Concerning the forms passing under this name there is now, 

 on the part of some botanists, a desire to interpret the true Spiraea salici- 

 folia as a native of Asia and Europe, and to regard the American plants 

 under the names Spiraea alba, the narrow-leaved form, and Spiraea latifolia, 

 the broad leaved form. At the present time two distinct forms of plants 

 through our range are referred either directly, or varietally to Spiraea salici- 

 folia. The one is a narrow-leaved representative, its foliage being broadly 

 or narrowly lanceolate, acute, finely and sharply serrate and dark green ; 



