Description

General - slender, erect shrub with few branches, to 1.5 m tall; branches not round, but more or less angled or ridged; twigs yellowish to reddish brown, hairless or minutely hairy; outer bark peels off in narrow, papery strips.

Leaves - simple, alternate, 4-6 cm long, narrowly lance-shaped to elliptic, pointed at both ends; edges finely toothed; dark green above, paler below, hairless or occasionally with fine hairs on veins below.

Flowers - in dense, long, finely hairy, many-flowered clusters at branch tips; 5 sepals, broadly triangular; 5 petals, white, 2-3 mm long, flowering from June to September.

Habitat

Moist meadows, roadsides, shores and edges of fens and marshes; widespread across northern parkland and southern boreal forests.

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