There are two varieties of the White Meadowsweet Spirea. The Narrowleaf Meadowsweet
(Spiraea alba alba) and this Broadleaf Meadowsweet (S. alba latifolia) that has the wider and larger, a little bit more rounded leaves to 3 inches long x 1.5 to 2 inches wide, with coarser teeth, and the twigs are dark purplish-brown and always hairless. Otherwise, it is just like the Narrowleaf Meadowsweet. The Broadleaf variety is found farther northeast and less west and south in North America, being native from Newfoundland and southeast Canada through New England to down the Appalachians into North Carolina and a little south of the Great Lakes to northern Michigan and not in Wisconsin, growing in wet meadows, bottomlands, and along watercourses or lakes. It is also a plant host like the other variety for the Azure Butterfly. It is sold by some native plant nurseries.

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