SPIRiE'A TRIFOLIATA. 
THREE-LEAVED SPIRiEA. 
Class. Order. 
ICOSANDRIA. DI-PENTAGYNIA. 
Natural Order. 
ROSACEA. 
Native of 
Height 
Flowers in 
Duration 
Cultivated 
N. America. 
2 feet. 
Aug. Sept. 
Perennial. 
in 1713. 
No. 153. 
The name of this genus, Spiraea, was borrowed 
from Theophrastus, who applied a similar term to 
a plant which is supposed to have belonged to this 
family. The name, it is thought, originated in the 
Greek word speira, signifying a rope, in allusion 
to the flexible stems that some of these plants pro- 
duce. Trifoliata, from the Latin, three-leaved. 
This pretty species of Spiraea, Mr. Curtis, ob- 
served, nearly thirty years ago, was a plant much 
coveted ; increasing but little, propagated with dif- 
ficulty, and liable to be lost, unless planted in a soil 
and situation highly favourable to it ; and that it was 
scarce in the gardens about London. He planted 
it on a northern border, in a moist situation, and in 
peat earth. Our specimen was gathered from a 
plant growing on a moderately dry rich loam, on the 
outside of the eastern end of a green-house, where 
it flourished without peculiar care, and flowered 
very freely. 
Miller says that seeds of it should be sown in the 
autumn, to insure their vegetation in the spring. 
This we have had no opportunity of trying. It may 
be increased by the roots. 
39 
