In the month of July the wooded pastures are variegated with little
groups of shrubbery full of delicate white blossoms in compound
pyramidal clusters, attracting more attention from a certain downy
softness in their appearance than from their beauty. These plants have
received the name of Spiræa from the spiry arrangement of their flowers.
The larger species among our wild plants, commonly known as the
Meadow-Sweet, in some places as Bridewort, is very frequent on little
tussocks and elevations rising out of wet soil. It is a slender
branching shrub, bearing a profusion of small, finely serrate and
elegant leaves, extending down almost to the roots, and a compound
panicle of white impurpled flowers at the ends of the branches. It is
well known to all who are familiar with the wood-scenery of New England,
and is seen growing abundantly in whortleberry pastures, in company with
the small kalmia and the swamp rose. It is a very free bloomer, lasting
from June till September, often blending a few solitary spikes of
delicate flowers with the tinted foliage of autumn.