Flora of New Zealand Series

Deciduous or semi-deciduous, glabrous shrub up to c. 2 m high, forming dense thickets; stems erect at first, arching to horizontal from second year; bark reddish and becoming papery, deep brown on older stems. Lvs spreading to ascending; petiole 3-10 mm long, narrowly winged, reddish, channelled above; blade lanceolate or narrowly elliptic to rhombic (especially on vegetative shoots), 30-75-(90) × 7-25-(30) mm, acute, narrowly cuneate at base, pale to dark green on both surfaces, with primary veins obvious and sometimes purplish, irregularly and deeply 1-2-serrate to lobed, especially in upper 1/2 of blade. Infls glabrous, spreading, compound corymbs terminating short lateral branches, up to 30-(40) mm wide and 20 mm long; peduncles up to 12 mm long. Sepals broadly triangular, 1-2 mm long, greenish. Petals suborbicular, 3-4 × 2-3 mm, white. Stamens < petals. Fr. of erect, glabrous, dark follicles.

N.: N. Auckland (Waitakere Ranges, Cavalli Is); S.: Westland (Kumara).

China 1982

Scrub.

FL Sep-Dec.

This floriferous shrub is widely cultivated as an ornamental and is one of the commonest persistent relics of cultivation in old garden sites. It is much less commonly grown today, to some extent being replaced by more floriferous spiraeas, particularly S. × vanhouttei (Briot) Zabel (S. trilobata L. × S. cantoniensis).