Native. Perennial. Propagates by seeds. Time of bloom: June to August. Seed-time: August to October. Range: Newfoundland to the Rocky Mountains, southward to Georgia and Missouri. Habitat: Moist meadows and swamps.

Stems erect, slender, two to five feet tall, with smooth, yellowish brown bark; these stems are very tough and troublesome to mowing knives and scythes. Leaves firm, light green, smooth, or nearly so, lance-shaped, usually obtuse at apex, finely toothed, tapering at base to a short petiole. Flowers in large terminal panicles somewhat more narrow and pyramidal than in the preceding species, the five white petals of the small blossoms nearly round; pedicels and calyx finely downy. The five tiny follicles smooth, two- to four-seeded. (Fig. 146.)

Means of control the same as for S. latifolia.