Common Ninebark

Description

Upright-spreading shrub with stiffly recurved branches, rounded and dense when in full leaf, but ragged in winter. Fall color a poor yellowish-bronze. Flowers white or pinkish, each flower about 1/4" to 1/3" indiameter, borne in many-flowered, 1" to 2" diameter corymbs in May and June. Fruit 3 to 5 follicles,each 1/4" long, inflated, glabrous, reddish, effective in September and October. Bark on older stemsexfoliating in papery strips.