Gemeiner Schneeball

A deciduous shrub, branches and stem smooth, glabrous and angled, young buds protected by scales. Leaves palmately 3-5-nerved; 12 x 8 cm, irregularly 3-5-lobed, lobes coarsely dentate, glabrous above, pubescent beneath; petiole 2-3 cm long, with a narrow groove and large discoid glands. Stipules filiform with disc-like glands at the tip. Flowers sterile, in peduncled corymbs. Calyx small. Corolla 5-15 mm in diameter.

Distribution: A native of Europe and N. Africa. The ‘Guelder rose’ or ‘Snow-ball tree’ is reportedly cultivated in Abbottabad (fide R. R. Stewart, l.c.).