Birch-leaved Spirea

Spiraea betulifolia

Pollinator plant

Growing it

When	Flowers June to July; fruits August to September
Type	shrub
Sun	Partial shade, full shade
Water	Low, medium
Soil	pH 5.5–7
Hardiness	zone 2–6
Mature height	1 m
Mature spread	1.5 m
Spacing	1 m
Years to maturity	3
Bloom	Jun–Jul
Flower colour	White not verified, a genus-level estimate
In bloom	June July
Fruit	Aug–Sep
Native to	AB

egg-shaped leaves about 4 cm long; several stems from the base

Where it has been recorded

BothSpecimensObservations

11 squares of about 28 km, each holding at least one record. A square is not a claim that the plant grows throughout it, and an unshaded square is unrecorded rather than empty. Darker squares hold more records, which follows roads and towns as much as it follows the plant. 25 herbarium specimens and 1 field observation this project may redraw. A filled dot is a pressed sheet somebody can re-examine; a hollow ring is a photograph identified by community agreement. Where the dots are dense is where people have looked, not where the plant is commonest, and empty ground is unsurveyed rather than unoccupied. How this map is made.

Which ecoregions the records fall in

Northern Continental Divide south AB: 18 records, medium confidence
Eastern Continental Ranges central AB: 5 records, low confidence

These are counts of records collected somewhere in the region, which is the resolution of the evidence: the map above shows where inside it. A region with 3 records is not the same claim as one with three hundred, so the count travels with the region. A region missing from this list means nobody has recorded it there, which is not the same as the plant being absent. Records within 900 m of a border count for neither side, because the border is not drawn finely enough to say which one they are on. Source: GBIF occurrence search + PRESERVED_SPECIMEN pass, retrieved 2026-08-24. Boundaries digitised from the National Ecological Framework for Canada v2.2 (Ecological Stratification Working Group 1995), simplified to about 900 m for display: an outline is accurate to roughly a kilometre, not to the metre. How these counts are made.

See every observation, live and current, on GBIF or iNaturalist.

Documented animals

45 documented relationships.

nectar for

Albuna pyramidalis Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Andrena amphibola LaManna et al. 2020
Andrena candida Specimen records from ecdysis.org
Andrena medionitens Specimen records from ecdysis.org
Andrena milwaukeensis LaManna et al. 2020
Andrena miranda LaManna et al. 2020
Andrena prunorum Specimen records from ecdysis.org
Andrena thaspii LaManna et al. 2020
Black-tailed Bumble Bee LaManna et al. 2020
Blue Copper LaManna et al. 2020
Brown-belted Bumble Bee Specimen records from www.bumblebeewatch.org
Brown-tailed Bumble Bee LaManna et al. 2020
Central Bumble Bee Specimen records from www.bumblebeewatch.org
Confusing Bumble Bee Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Coral Hairstreak Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Euphydryas colon Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Golden Northern Bumble Bee LaManna et al. 2020
Golden-haired Flower Longhorn Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Half-black Bumble Bee Specimen records from www.bumblebeewatch.org
Hunt's Bumble Bee Specimen records from www.bumblebeewatch.org
Hylaeus annulatus LaManna et al. 2020
Hylaeus basalis LaManna et al. 2020
Hylaeus modestus LaManna et al. 2020
Hylaeus verticalis LaManna et al. 2020
Indiscriminate Cuckoo Bumble Bee Specimen records from www.bumblebeewatch.org
Lasioglossum marinense LaManna et al. 2020
Lasioglossum nevadense Specimen records from ecdysis.org
Lasioglossum nigroviride LaManna et al. 2020
Megachile gemula LaManna et al. 2020
Melissa Blue LaManna et al. 2020
Northern Crescent Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Orange-banded Bumble Bee LaManna et al. 2020
Ornate Checkered Beetle Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Osmia densa LaManna et al. 2020
Osmia juxta LaManna et al. 2020
Physocephala burgessi Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Polygonia zephyrus Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Red-belted Bumble Bee LaManna et al. 2020
Red-tailed Bumble Bee Specimen records from www.bumblebeewatch.org
Trichiotinus assimilis Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Two-ranked Bumble Bee LaManna et al. 2020
Vancouver Bumble Bee Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Western Bumble Bee LaManna et al. 2020
Xestoleptura tibialis Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Yellow-fronted Bumble Bee LaManna et al. 2020

Also worth knowing

Safety

Toxicity not assessed, absence of a warning is not a guarantee of safety

Buying it

About $25–$50 per plant (estimate), usually from a native-plant nursery. Estimate (shrub default); AB retail as of 2026

Where these numbers came from

Flower detail: not verified, a genus-level estimate