E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Flora of British Columbia

Spiraea douglasii var. menziesii Hook.
pink spirea
Rosaceae (Rose family)

Introduction to Vascular Plants

© Allan Carson  Email the photographer   (Photo ID #17851)

E-Flora BC Static Map
Distribution of Spiraea douglasii var. menziesii
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Species Information

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General:
Low to medium shrub, 0.5-2.5 m tall, from creeping rhizome, often forming thickets; stems erect, much-branched, the slender branchlets usually somewhat woolly, later becoming smooth.
Leaves:
Alternate, deciduous, short-stalked, oblong to egg-shaped, 3-10 cm long, coarsely toothed mostly above the middle, dark green and smooth above, paler and woolly-hairy to smooth beneath.
Flowers:
Inflorescence a branched, narrowly conic to cylindric, dense terminal cluster of numerous small flowers, the cluster several times longer than broad, the branches often woolly; corollas deep to pale pink, the petals 5, egg-shaped to round-elliptic, about 2 mm long; calyces fine-hairy to nearly smooth on the outside, 5-lobed, the lobes triangular, bent back, about 1 mm long; ovaries superior; stamens numerous.
Fruits:
Follicles, usually 5, short-beaked, 2-3 mm long, somewhat leathery, smooth except sometimes a few long hairs along the suture, shining; seeds several, spindle-shaped.
Notes:
Two subspecies occur in BC:

1. Leaves greyish-woolly beneath; plants of the coast................... ssp. douglasii

1. Leaves smooth to hairy, but not greyish-woolly beneath; plants from throughout southern two-thirds of BC.................. ssp. menziesii (Hook.) Calder & Taylor

Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Habitat / Range

Fens, swamps, bogs, streambanks, lake margins, and moist to wet thickets and open forests in the lowland and montane zones; common throughout BC, S of about 56oN; S to CA and ID.

Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Ecology

Ecological Framework for Spiraea douglasii var. menziesii

The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from
original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range.
(Updated August, 2013)

Site Information
Value / Class

Minimum

Average

Maximum

Elevation (metres) 720 974 1360
Slope Gradient (%) 0 0 5
Aspect (degrees)
[0 - N; 90 - E; 180 - S; 270 - W]
230 229 230
Soil Moisture Regime (SMR)
[0 - very xeric; 4 - mesic;
8 - hydric]
5 6 8
Modal Nutrient Regime
Class
C
Number of field plots
 species was recorded in:
6
Modal BEC Zone Class
ICH
All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in: ESSF(1), ICH(2), MS(1), SBS(2)

Synonyms and Alternate Names

Spiraea douglasii Hook.

Taxonomic and Nomenclatural Links

Additional Photo Sources

General References