QUEENOFTHEPRAIRIE

(Ulmaria rubra; Spirea lobata of Gray) Rose family



Flowers - Deep pink, like the peach blossom, fragrant, about 1/3

in. across, clustered in large cymose panicles on a long

footstalk. Calyx 5-lobed; 5-clawed, rose-like petals; stamens

numerous; pistils 5 to 15, usually 10. Stem: 2 to 8 ft. tall,

smooth, grooved, branched. Leaves: Mostly near the ground, large,

rarely measuring 3 ft. long, compounded of from 3 to 7 leaflets;

end leaflet, of 7 to 9 divisions, much the largest; side leaflets

opposite, seated on stem, 3 to 5 lobed or parted; all lobes

acute, and edges unequally incised. Prominent kidney-shaped

stipules.

Preferred Habitat - Moist meadows and prairies.

Flowering Season - June-July.

Distribution - Western Pennsylvania to Michigan and Iowa, and

southward.



A stately, beautiful native plant, seen to perfection where it

rears bright panicles of bloom above the ranker growth in the low

moist meadows of the Ohio Valley. When we find it in the East, it

has only recently escaped from man's gardens into Nature's.

Butterflies and bees pay grateful homage to this queen. Indeed,

butterflies appear to have a special fondness for pink, as bees

have for blue flowers. Cattle delight to chew the leaves, which,

when crushed, give out a fragrance like sweet birch.