Stephanandra

An Asiatic genus of deciduous shrubs, comprising four species. They are allied to Spiraea, but differ in having leaves with stipules and flowers with a single carpel, developing into a capsule which splits only at the base, and contains one or two black, lustrous seeds. Leaves alternate. Flowers dull white or greenish, in terminal corymbs or panicles. The generic name derives from the Greek Stephanos, crown, and andros, man, from the stamens being persistent and forming a wreath round the capsule.

The stephanandras like a good, moist soil in sun or half-shade. They are easily propagated by cuttings or by division of the plants; S. incisa also by root-cuttings put in heat in March.