How annoying it is when you recognise a plant (I have this one in my garden), announce it proudly to your fellow botanists only to find you can neither recall the Latin or the English name? I muttered it was "Wedding dress plant" or something like that - not far out: Bridal-spray. It is an elegant hybrid shrub (Spiraea thunbergii x Spiraea x multiflora) which can be covered in blossom in early spring. Like many of the Spiraea genus it escapes but nowhere near as effectively as some of the others.

Spiraea x arguta is found here and there throughout the British Isles (not in Ireland though) with the largest concentration of records in the north west of England where this one was seen.

Near River Mersey, Cheadle 19th April 2007

Added on 23rd February 2008, updated 11th February 2012