Queen Of The Meadow

Plants 80–100 cm tall. Stems sulcate, glabrous. Stipules green, semicordate or ovate-lanceolate, herbaceous, margin sharply serrate; petiole glabrous; leaf blade pinnate, with 2–5 pairs of leaflets, abaxially white tomentose, sometimes a few basal leaflets glabrescent, adaxially glabrous; terminal leaflet 3–5-lobed, slightly smaller to slightly larger than lateral ones, lobes lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, margin doubly serrate or slightly lobed, apex acuminate; lateral leaflets oblong-ovate or elliptic-lanceolate, base rounded, margin doubly serrate, apex acuminate. Inflorescence terminal, paniculate. Flowers bisexual, ca. 5 mm in diam.; pedicel sparsely pubescent. Sepals ovate, densely pubescent abaxially, apex obtuse or acute. Petals white, obovate. Achenes attached to receptacle adaxially near base, subsessile, spirally contorted and appearing united. Fl. and fr. Jun–Sep. 2n = 14.

Mountain thickets, meadows, river banks. Xinjiang [Mongolia, Russia; C and SW Asia, Europe].

Spiraea ulmaria Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 490. 1753.