Spiraea betulifolia (Shining-Leaved Meadowsweet) - photos and description
General: Low growing shrub with reddish stems, rhizomatous.
Flowers: Inflorescence a flat topped, dense panicle. We measured a panicle to 8 cm across. Flowers are white, with small red dots on the petals, about 5 mm in diameter. Stamens long, numerous.
Leaves: Leaves are obovate, alternate, coarsely toothed towards the apex, leaf measured at 9 cm long and 4 cm wide.
Height: Height listed to 100 cm in Budd's Flora, I measured plants to 60 cm tall.
Habitat: Forest in the Cypress Hills.
Abundance: Provincially rare, ranked as an S2 (as of 2021) designation by the Saskatchewan Conservation Data Centre. Locally abundant in the Cypress Hills.
Origin: Native.
Synonym: Listed in some of the field guides we use as Spiraea lucida.
When and where photographed: Photos taken August 3rd in lodgepole pine forest in the Cypress Hills, about 400 km southwest of our home in Regina, SK.