White Meadowsweet

White Meadowsweet

Spiraea alba

Family: Rosaceae

Range: In the eastern US from Georgia up and out to the Dakotas, and in southern Canada from the eastern provinces out to Alberta.

Native: Native

Native Habitat: Marshes and other wetland edges, meadow and disturbed habitats. Will range into sub alpine and alpine zones.

Bloom Time: June-September

Notes:

This pretty shrub species occurs in many of the places I visit – seeing its blooms is a herald for summer for me. The flowers are white to pale pink, though not as pink as its cousin, Steeplebush. It also tends to stay a little drier than Steeplebush.

In New England alpine areas, there’s a distinct variety of Alpine Meadowsweet that is sometimes put under the Northern Meadowsweet (Spiraea septentrionalis) species. Gobotany (my chosen source of truth as they publish the Flora Novae Angliae) does keep them under Spiraea alba var. latifolia. I’ve included a picture below from Mount Washington – they’ve definitely been influenced in form by the altitude.

The genus name cames from the Greek speira, which means wreath, and references the clusters of flowers seen on most species in this genus. Alba is the Latin for white.

Insect Visitors:

Atlantis Fritillary, Argynnis atlantis
Two Spotted Bumblebee, Bombus bimaculatus
Odorous House Ants, Tapinoma sessile and Eastern Calligrapher, Toxomerus geminatus
Red Blue Checkered Beetle, Trichodes nuttalli
Asian Lady Beetle, Harmonia axyridis
European Fire Ants, Myrmica rubra
Flower Longhorn Beetle, Strangalia luteicornis
Brown Belted Bumblebee, Bombus griseocollis