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Physocarpus monogynus (Torr.) Coult.

Modern name

Physocarpus monogynus (Torr.) J.M.Coult.

Synonyms

Spiraea monogyna Torr.; Neillia monogyna (Torr.) Greene; N. torreyi S. Wats.; Physocarpus torreyi (S. Wats.) Maxim.

A dwarf deciduous bush about 2 ft high in the wild, with erect, much-branched stems. Leaves 34 to 112 in. long, roundish ovate, three-lobed, the lobes irregularly and doubly toothed, sometimes very downy beneath, sometimes only slightly so. Flowers 14 in. in width, of a clear or slightly rose-tinted white, produced in early June in few-flowered corymbs 34 to 114 in. across. Fruits downy, usually composed of two pods cohering for more than half their length, but sometimes only one; each contains one obovoid seed.

Native of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado up to elevations of 9,000 ft. It is a pretty little shrub with small leaves often lobed and toothed, like a ribes. Its dwarf habit, small leaves, and few downy seed-vessels well distinguish it.


Genus

Physocarpus

Other species in the genus