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Thunberg's meadowsweet (Spiraea thunbergii)

Thunberg's meadowsweet Common Names: Early spirea, Thunberg spirea, baby's breath spirea

Description: Named after Carl Peter Thunberg, a Swedish naturalist, who introduced this plant to Europe. It was introduced to North America as an ornamental.

Habit: Small, long-lived shrub growing from 3-5 feet tall and wide.

Leaves: Alternate, simple, linear-lanceolate, semi-deciduous, sparsely-toothed, pale green in color, 1.5 in. long and 1/4 in. wide.

Stems: Thin, flexible, light brown in color, smooth, arranged in a zigzag pattern.

Flowers: White in color, 5 petals, tiny, 1/3 in. diameter, 3-5 umbel clusters.

Fruit and seeds: Brown in color, follicle.

Habitat: Native to China and Japan. Can be found in disturbed sites, meadows and fields.

Reproduction: By seed and vegetatively.

Credits: The information provided in this factsheet was gathered from The Morton Arboretum and the Missouri Botanical Garden.

Individual species images that appear with a number in a black box are courtesy of the Bugwood.org network (http://www.invasive.org).Individual photo author credits may not be included due to the small display size of the images and subsequent difficulty of reading the provided text. All other images appear courtesy of Google (http://images.google.com).


Common Name:

Thunberg's meadowsweet

Scientific Name:

Spiraea thunbergii

Family:

Rosaceae
(Rose)

Duration:

Perennial

Habit:

Shrubs

USDA Symbol:

SPTH2