Virginia Sweetspire

Itea virginica L. Sp. PI. 199. 1753
A shrub, 3 m. tall or less, the branches somewhat straggling, the young twigs and racemes pubescent ; leaves oval, oblanceolate or rarely obovate, 4-14 cm. long, acute or short-acuminate, sharply serrulate, glabrous above, sometimes sparingly pubescent beneath, the base narrowed ; petioles 1 cm. long or less ; racemes 3-15 cm. long, densely flowered ; pedicels 1.5-3 mm. long ; hypanthium not accrescent, 2-2.5 mm. broad; petals lanceolate, acute, about 1 mm. long ; petals linear or linear-lanceolate, erect or somewhat spreading, 4-5 mm. long, acutish ; stamens about as long as the petals; capsule narrow, pubescent, 5-7 mm. long, 2-grooved, tipped with the persistent style.
Type locality : Virginia.
Distribution : New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania to Florida and Louisiana.

Itea virginica
Add to the illustrations: Britt. & Brown, 111. Fl. ed. 2. /. 2193; G. T. Stevens, 111. Guide pi. 61. f. 1; Newhall, Shrubs N.E. Am./. 49.
183. Insert: By John Kunkel Small
Shrubs or small trees with much branched stems, the branches alternate. Leaves alternate, without stipules; blades dilated, usually toothed, often leathery, sessile or petioled. Flowers perfect, in racemes or panicles, or solitary. Hypanthium hemispheric, turbinate, or flattish. Calyx of 5 broad or narrow, persistent sepals. Corolla of 5 erectspreading imbricate petals. Androecium of 5 stamens inserted under the margin of a disk, with slender filaments. Gynoecium of 2 or 3 united carpels. Ovary inferior, 2or 3-celled; styles united; stigma slightly 2or 3-lobed. Ovules numerous in each ovarycavity. Fruit capsular.