Authors: Pall.  

Botanical Description

Rounded habit, to 60cm high. One year old stems zig-zag and reddish-brown. Leaves elliptic to oblong-obovate, toothed, 1.5-5cm long. Flowers 5-8mm across, white, in terminal flattish corymbs up to 9cm wide, late summer. Northeastern Asia (including Japan) and North America, on the higher mountain slopes. Usually represented in gardens by S.b. var. corymbosa, a taller more loosely branched shrub with larger leaves, glaucous beneath and more freely produced smaller corymbs. Eastern U.S.A. only. S.b. var. lucida (syn. S. lucida) is much like typical betulifolia but native to northwestern U.S.A. only.