queen of the prairie

The plant is a spreading herbaceous perennial growing to 1.8–2.5 m (5 ft 11 in – 8 ft 2 in) tall by 1.2 m (3 ft 11 in) wide. With large lobed leaves and branching red stems, it produces corymbs of deep pink or peach, sweet fragrant flowers in the summer. Inflorescences of F. rubra are panicles possessing 200–1,000 small pink-petaled flowers on 1–2 m stems can have somewhere to 5,000 seeds. The numerous stamens give the flower a fuzzy appearance. Each flower has carpels that are free from one another, while also having five to 15 pistils. However, these seeds are small due to the large size of its clones yet when seeds are produced seedlings may fail to establish in large numbers. The plant grows in an aggressive manner with its creeping roots. The foliage texture of the plant is coarse and the color ranges from a medium to dark green. Filipendula rubra is a perennial which grows up to 2.5 m (8 ft) by 1.3 m (4 ft 3in) at a medium rate. It is hardy to zone (UK) 2. It is in flower from July to August, and the seeds ripen from August to September. The species is hermaphrodite (has both male and female organs) and is self-fertile. The plant is pollinated by bees, flies, and beetles. The plant attracts wildlife.

Pollination. …

The species is native from Pennsylvania westward to Illinois, and north of Georgia. However, F. rubra is fairly successful as an alien species in places such as Massachusetts, where it was first recorded in 1875 and is still found. In many places where it is native, such as Indiana, and places where it is alien as well, F. rubra is a threatened species. The typical habitat of F. rubra is wetland plant communities, particularly calcareous fens, although it is occasionally found in spring seeps and wet prairies. Populations are generally small and widely separated from one another as a result of the rarity and smallness of calcareous fens.

Although Filipendula rubra is considered an endangered species by the USDA in several of the states that it is native to, it is not caused by animals who eat the plant, or any diseases that may infect a plant. Rather, F. rubra is considered endangered or threatened because of its trouble pollinating. The process the plant has to go through in order to pollinate is more difficult than that of regular plants due to its inability to fertilize itself (explained further in the section above about pollination). F. rubra is further endangered by habitat loss throughout much of its native distribution.