A twiggy shrub, 3 to 4 ft high, of broad but compact habit, young shoots and leaves glabrous; stems round, often zigzagged in growth. Leaves roundish, 1⁄2 to 1 in. (rarely 11⁄2 in.) long, and about as much wide, coarsely toothed, sometimes obscurely three- or five-lobed, the base rounded or sometimes slightly heart-shaped, rather glaucous green. Flowers white, small, produced during June, packed very numerously in umbels 3⁄4 to 11⁄2 in. across; each umbel terminating a short leafy twig, springing from the previous year’s growth, every flower having a slender, glabrous stalk 1⁄3 to 3⁄4 in. long.
Native of N. Asia, from Korea and N. China to Siberia and Turkestan; introduced in 1801. Although its flower-buds are sometimes injured by frosts, this is a very pretty shrub of neat habit.
S. blumei G. Don S. chamaedryfolia sens. Bl., not L. – A native of Korea and Japan, this is nearly allied to S. trilobata, but differs in the shape of the leaf, which is ovate or lozenge-shaped, longer than it is wide, the base wedge-shaped. Flowers white, crowded in umbels 1 in. wide. A shrub 3 to 6 ft high.