[323] Spiraea japonica, Japanese Spiraea
Introduction
Spiraea japonica is a shrub originating in the area of China, Korea and Japan, now widely cultivated as an ornamental garden plant. It usually goes by the common name Japanese Spiraea, often spelled as Spirea.
Meadowsweet is a superficially similar plant from the genus Filipendula that used to be included within Spiraea. Some of the other species within Spiraea have common names including Spiraea or Meadowseet and Spiraea japonica is sometimes known as Japanese Meadowsweet.
Taxonomy
Kingdom – Plants
Division – Vascular Plants
Class – Angiosperms (Flowering Plants}
Order – Rosales
Family – Rosaceae
Subfamily – Amygdaloideae
Tribe – Spiraeeae
Genus – Spiraea
Scientific Name – Spiraea japonica
Many cultivars and hybrids are available.
Name
Spiraea, sometimes spelled as Spirea or Spiræa, comes from Latinized Greek speira meaning coiled or twisted, cognate with spiral, from the shape of the fruits.
Description
Japanese Spiraea is an ornamental deciduous plant. It is a relatively low but dense perennial shrub. It has pink to red stems and attractive light green simple leaves.
The tiny pink flowers form large bunched inflorescences that cover the plant in summer. Cultivated varieties come with flowers of different colours.
Habitat and use
This species comes from China, Korea and Japan and prefers wetland environments such as riversides and boggy areas.
Many cultivars of Spiraea are available as garden plants. They include Spiraea japonica and other species and hybrids and some forms can be used as low-growing hedges.
See also
Filipendula ulmaria, Meadowsweet, with several other common names, has been moved out of the genus Spiraea. It is a wildflower native to Britain with similar inflorescences of white flowers. [Fili-pendula means thread-hanging, from its root tubers and ulmaria means Elm-like from the resemblance of its leaves to the Elm in the genus Ulmus.]
Some other close relatives include [220] Apple, [320] Whitebeam and [321] Mountain Ash.
The Species of Britain 