Asian Ninebark

Shrubs to 3 m tall. Branchlets slightly curved, terete, glabrous or subglabrous; buds ovoid, pubescent. Stipules caducous, linear-lanceolate, 6–7 mm, glabrous or subglabrous, margin serrate; petiole 1.2–2.5 cm, sparsely pubescent or subglabrous; leaf blade triangular-ovate to broadly ovate, 3.5–5.5 × 3–5 cm, abaxially stellate hairy and pubescent, densely so on veins, base cordate or subcordate, rarely truncate, margin 3(–5)-lobed, doubly serrate, apex acute or acuminate. Corymb 3–4 cm in diam., many flowered, most parts sparsely stellate pubescent to stellate tomentose; peduncle glabrescent; bracts lanceolate, serrate at apex, caducous. Flowers 8–13 mm in diam.; pedicel 1–1.8 cm. Sepals triangular, 3–4 × ca. 2 mm, margin entire, apex acute. Petals white, obovate, ca. 4 × 2 mm, apex obtuse. Stamens 20–30. Carpels 2–4; style terminal. Follicles ovoid, 9–10 mm, glabrescent; fruiting pedicel 1–1.8 cm, glabrescent. Seeds 2–4. Fl. Jun, fr. Jul–Aug.

Broad-leaved forest margins, valleys. NE Hebei (Chengde, Wuling Shan), S Heilongjiang (Mao’ershan) [N Korea, Russia (Far East)].

Spiraea amurensis Maximowicz, Mém. Acad. Imp. Sci. St.-Pétersbourg Divers Savans 9: 90. 1859; Opulaster amurensis (Maximowicz) Kuntze.