10. P. demíssa, Walp. Low but tree-like in habit, 3–12° high, resembling n. 8 in foliage, but the leaves rather thick and the teeth less slender; racemes often elongated; fruit purplish-black, sweet and but slightly astringent.—Central Kan. and Neb. to New Mex., Dak., and westward.
Calyx 5-cleft, short, persistent. Petals 5, obovate, equal, imbricated in the bud. Stamens 10–50. Pods (follicles) 5–8, not inflated, few–several-seeded. Seeds linear, with a thin or loose coat and no albumen.—Shrubs or perennial herbs, with simple or pinnate leaves, and white or rose-colored flowers in corymbs or panicles. (The Greek name, from σπειράω, to twist, from the twisting of the pods in the original species.)
§ 1. SPIRÆA proper. Erect shrubs, with simple leaves; stipules obsolete; pods mostly 5, several-seeded.
1. S. betulæfòlia, Pall., var. corymbòsa, Watson. Nearly smooth (1–2° high); leaves oval or ovate, cut-toothed toward the apex; corymbs large, flat, several times compound; flowers white. (S. corymbosa, Raf.)—Mountains of Penn. and N. J. to Ga., west to Ky. and Mo.
2. S. salicifòlia, L. (Common Meadow-Sweet.) Nearly smooth (2–3° high); leaves wedge-lanceolate, simply or doubly serrate; flowers in a crowded panicle, white or flesh-color; pods smooth.—Wet or low grounds, Newf. to the mountains of Ga., west to Minn. and Mo.; also to the far northwest. (Eu.)
3. S. tomentòsa, L. (Hardhack. Steeple-Bush.) Stems and lower surface of the ovate or oblong serrate leaves very woolly; flowers in short racemes crowded in a dense panicle, rose-color, rarely white; pods woolly.—Low grounds, N. Scotia to the mountains of Ga., west to Minn. and Kan.
§ 2. ULMÀRIA. Perennial herbs, with pinnate leaves and panicled cymose flowers; stipules kidney-form; pods 5–8, 1–2-seeded.
4. S. lobàta, Jacq. (Queen of the Prairie.) Glabrous (2–8° high); leaves interruptedly pinnate; the terminal leaflet very large, 7–9-parted, the lobes incised and toothed; panicle compound-clustered, on a long naked peduncle; flowers deep peach-blossom color, handsome, the petals and sepals often in fours.—Meadows and prairies, Penn. to Ga., west to Mich., Ky., and Iowa.
§ 3. ARÚNCUS. Perennial herbs, with diœcious whitish flowers in many slender spikes, disposed in a long compound panicle; leaves thrice pinnate; stipules obsolete; pods 3–5, several-seeded; pedicels reflexed in fruit.