STUDIES OF PLANT LIFE 
The botanical name is of Greek origin, from ows, sour, 
and coccus, a berry. The plant thrives best in wet sandy 
soil and low mossy marshes. 
WILLOW-LEAVED MEADOWSWEET—Spirea salicifolia (L.). 
Frederic Pursh, in his “ North American Flora,” a valuable 
work but little referred to, gives no less than seven different 
species of this Genus Spiraea as natives of Canada, but the 
description of two or three will be sufficient for the present 
limited work on the indigenous shrubs of this portion of the 
Dominion. Of the white-flowered species, Spirwa salicifolia, 
the Willow-leaved Meadowsweet, is the most commonly met 
with, and is often found in gardens and shrubberies. It is 
a pretty, graceful shrub, with clustered feathery panicles of 
white or pale waxy-pink flowers, which are terminal on 
slender branches; the leaves are long, narrow and thin, of a 
pale green, serrated on the margins. Our Spirzas will not 
only bear removal to the garden but will flourish luxuriantly 
under cultivation. The only objection to their introduction 
to our borders is that they are apt to become too intrusive. 
A very slender form, with simple wand-like stems and 
terminal spikes of small white flowers, may be found grow- 
ing among the cracks and fissures of the rocky shores of 
‘Stoney Lake and its numerous islets, rooting in sterile spots 
‘among the few wild grasses that find nurture in the scanty 
mould that is lodged in such crevices. This delicate little 
shrub may be found in flower all through the hot months of 
July and August. The Spireas belong to the Rose family. 
The popular name, Meadowsweet, seems hardly appropriate 
to our pretty shrub, as it has very little fragrance. But this 
mame for the whole genus is taken from the beautiful and 
odoriferous British species, Spirea Ulmaria. 
182 
