Spiraea tomentosa
Credits
Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles
Recommended citation
'Spiraea tomentosa' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
Genus
Common Names
- Steeplebush
Infraspecifics
Other taxa in genus
- Spiraea alpina
- Spiraea arcuata
- Spiraea 'Arguta'
- Spiraea bella
- Spiraea betulifolia
- Spiraea × brachybotrys
- Spiraea calcicola
- Spiraea cana
- Spiraea canescens
- Spiraea cantoniensis
- Spiraea chamaedryfolia
- Spiraea chinensis
- Spiraea crenata
- Spiraea decumbens
- Spiraea douglasii
- Spiraea gemmata
- Spiraea henryi
- Spiraea hypericifolia
- Spiraea japonica
- Spiraea longigemmis
- Spiraea 'Margaritae'
- Spiraea media
- Spiraea miyabei
- Spiraea mollifolia
- Spiraea myrtilloides
- Spiraea nipponica
- Spiraea prunifolia
- Spiraea rosthornii
- Spiraea salicifolia
- Spiraea × sanssouciana
- Spiraea sargentiana
- Spiraea thunbergii
- Spiraea trichocarpa
- Spiraea trilobata
- Spiraea × vanhouttei
- Spiraea veitchii
- Spiraea yunnanensis
A shrub 3 to 5 ft high, with spreading underground roots, ultimately forming a thicket of erect angled stems which when young are covered with brownish felt. Leaves ovate, 11⁄2 to 3 in. long, 3⁄4 to 11⁄2 in. wide, coarsely and irregularly toothed almost to the base, dark green and nearly glabrous above, covered with a close, yellowish grey felt beneath. Flowers purplish rose, densely produced in erect, terminal, branching panicles 4 to 7 in. long, 11⁄2 to 21⁄2 in. wide during late summer.
Native of the eastern United States; introduced, according to Aiton, in 1736. It is allied to the western S. douglasii, and is often confused with it; it is, however, distinguished by the thicket, browner (or yellowish) felt beneath the leaves, which are toothed much nearer the base; by flowering some weeks later, and by the ovaries being woolly (glabrous in S. douglasii).