Spiraea hypericifolia Linnaeus var. thalictroides (Pallas) Ledebour; S. thalictroides Pallas.

Shrubs low, to 1 m tall. Branchlets brown or gray-brown, terete, densely pubescent initially, becoming subglabrous; buds ovoid, small, with several brownish scales, glabrous. Petiole 1–2 mm, minutely pubescent; leaf blades unequal: those on flowering branchlets usually obovate, 4–8 × 2–5 mm, base cuneate, margin entire or obtusely 3-lobed; those on sterile branchlets abaxially gray-green, often flabellate, 7–10 mm, about as broad as long, abaxially densely pubescent, adaxially glabrous or sparsely pubescent, base narrowly cuneate, inconspicuously 3-veined, margin 3–5-lobed. Umbels sessile, 1–1.5 cm, 3–6-flowered, with several small, clustered leaves at base; pedicels 6–10 mm, glabrous; bracts small, caducous. Flowers 4–5 mm in diam. Hypanthium campanulate, glabrous abaxially. Sepals triangular, 1–1.5 × 2–2.5 mm, erect or reflexed in fruit, apex apiculate. Petals white, suborbicular, 2–3 mm, nearly as broad as long, glabrous, base shortly clawed, apex obtuse. Stamens ca. 20, nearly equaling petals. Disk annular, deeply 10-lobed. Carpels pubescent; styles shorter than stamens. Follicles pubescent distally or on adaxial suture; styles terminal on abaxial side. Fl. May–Jun, fr. Jul–Aug.

Dry grasslands, stony slopes; 600--1300 m. Gansu, Hebei, Henan, Nei Mongol, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shanxi [Mongolia, Russia].