This section is from the book "Harper's Guide To Wild Flowers", by Caroline A. Creevey. Also available from Amazon: Harper's Guide To Wild Flowers.
Family, Rose. Color of petals, deep pink. Sepals and petals, generally 5, sometimes 4. Stamens, numerous. The fragrant flowers are borne, clustered, in a long, compound panicle, on a long peduncle. Leaves, pinnate, with a large, terminal leaflet, deeply cut into 7 to 9 lobes, attended by prominent, kidney-shaped stipules. Lateral leaflets sessile. 2 to 8 feet high. June and July.
A stately plant adorning the meadows and prairies south and west of Pennsylvania, sometimes cultivated in the Northeast. Its leaves, when crushed, give forth the odor of sweet birch.
 
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