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What do "small," "medium" and "large" numbers mean?
They refer to how many insects were collected per meter square in a 30 second sample. Small means less than 2 insects; medium indicates 2 to 10 insects, and large suggests greater than 10 insects. |
home> native plant fact sheets> meadowsweet
Enhancing Beneficial Insects with Native Plants
Meadowsweet
Spiraea alba Du Roi |
Group: Dicot
Family: Rosaceae
(rose)
Growth Habit: Shrub
Duration: Perennial
U.S. Nativity: Native, eastern U.S., excluding much of the south
Natural Enemies Attracted: Large numbers of Orius insidiosus. Medium numbers of Chalcidoidea. Small numbers of Thomisidae, Salticidae, Cantharidae, Plagiognathus politus, Cynipoidea, Nabidae, Coccinellidae, Empididae, Carabidae, Braconidae, Sphecidae and Ichneumonidae.
Pests Attracted: Medium numbers of Japanese beetles. Small numbers of aphids, leaf beetles, lygus bugs, froghoppers, leafhoppers, thrips and weevils.
Bees attracted: Moderate numbers (between 1-5 bees per meter square in a 30 second sample) of bees including yellow-faced bees, Andrenid bees, sweat bees, and bumble bees.
Species Notes: Fragrant, airy white flower clusters bloom at the end of branches from 2-4 ft tall. This shrub grows tall but remains narrow in stature when mature, and first bloomed in its third year of growth. Plants bloomed throughout August. This species was the third most attractive to natural enemies in the mid season, with over four times as many natural enemies as the grass control. |
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| About the Plant Species Graph: Average number of beneficial insects collected at each plant species the week before, during, and after peak bloom, for plant species blooming from mid-August through early October (+ standard error). Meadowsweet (Spiraea alba) boxed in red. Bars for natural enemies are in green, bars for bees are in yellow. Bars for native plants are solid and nonnative plants are striped. The black line on the top graph shows the number of natural enemies in grass with no flowering plants (grass control). Plants are listed in order of peak bloom. |
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| Habitat: Includes full sun to partial sun, and average to very wet soils. Naturally occurring in wet areas such as marshes, sedge meadows, edges of streams, shores, swamps, and peat-lands. May occur along the borders of woods where it is moist.
Cultivation and Management: Can be grown from seed, especially on wet sites (flowers in fourth year) or plug material (flowers in third year). Seed from this species is not reliable but meadowsweet does establish well from plant cuttings if planted in moist soil. This shrub looks best when planted in mass. A good choice for naturalizing in moist, open sites.
Availability: Species is available as seed, plug or container grown material from various native plant nurseries. Michigan Native Plant Producers Association
For more information:USDA-NRCS PLANTS database |
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This fact sheet prepared by: Doug Landis, Anna Fiedler, Department of Entomology, Michigan State University. Please note: The information presented at this web site should be considered a guideline to be adapted for your situation. MSU makes no warranty about the use of the information presented here. Read disclaimer. |
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