The Meadowsweet flower (Spiraea salicifolia) is a common and beautiful shrub that grows along the edges of woods, swamps, or even roadsides. Its handsome, pyramid-shaped clusters of flowers bloom during July and August. The stem is straight, slender, woody, and yellowish. At the top of the flower, there is a spire-like panicle of fleecy flower clusters. Each flower has five round, white petals and numerous long, pink stamens that give the flowers a feathery appearance and a rosy tint. It ranges from New York to Missouri and southward.  This flower is pictured to the left.

Steeplebush (Spiraea tomentosa) is one of our most beautiful flowering shrubs. The flower spike is more slender and steeple-like than that of the Meadowsweet, and the flowers are a beautiful shade of pink. The leaves are more closely alternated and are dark green above and lighter below. Steeplebrush grows in low ground from Nebraska to Minnesota and southward.

The Wild Strawberry (Fragaria virginiana) is, in fact, a member of the Rose family. The fuzzy stems of both leaves and flowers rise directly from the running rootstalk. The flowers, several of which grow on each stem, are wheel-shaped and comprised of five rounded white petals. After the flowering season, the green center expands, becomes pulpy, and finally turns red on the outer surface. This flower's numerous seeds are protected and held in little pits...provided for them on the surface of the wild strawberry!

High Bush Blackberry (Rubus allegheniensis) is a tall branching shrub with slender brown stems, from three to ten feet long, armed with stout, slightly reserved prickles. It is from this species that the well-known variety was developed. The leaves are divided into three to five ovate, pointed, toothed leaflets with a ribbed and hairy surface. The flowers have five green sepals alternating with the narrow white petals.

Swamp Rose (Rosa Carolina, pictured to the right). Wild Roses are very common throughout the United States and the Swamp Rose is one of the more prolific species. The Swamp Rose is a very bushy specimen, growing from one to nine feet high. It is very common on the edge of swamps or streams, and in low ground, throughout the United States.

The flowers are two to three inches wide and have numerous yellow stamens radiating from the greenish white center. The stems of the Swamp Rose is sparingly armed with stout, wide-based, curved thorns.

Pasture Rose (Rosa humilis) is the most abundant of all wild roses and grows profusely in all dry, rocky places. It does not grow as high as the swamp rose, rarely exceeding three feet in height, but the slender stems have more branches and often grown in large tangled masses. The flowers are about the same size as the swamp rose, but are usually solitary at the end of the branches.

The stem is armed with straight, slender, light brown thorns or "prickles," two of which are set oppositely on the stem at its junctions with leaf stems.