Can someone identify this plant?

[diggity]

I never really noticed this plant until a couple years ago (though I'm sure it has always been here - you know how you just start paying a lot more attention to flowering plants when you become a beekeeper).  I've seen bees on it, and it flowers during the dearth here in New England, along roadsides and other disturbed areas.  Just wondering what it is.  I've poked around on the Internet and can't seem to find it.  It seems to be in abundance this year.  Anyone know what it is?  Thanks!



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[Haddon]

Looks a lot like Crape Myrtle if it is its not the type I see around here, but there are so many versions of it. Is it a shrub or does it have a trunk?

[David McLeod]

Look at the leaf, it's not a crepe myrtle. Don't know what it is but it ain't crepe myrtle.

[G3farms]

Not sure but looks like white milk weed, cut one of the main stems and see if it will bleed a white milky looking sap.

[BlueBee]

Could be a form of Clethra.  Commonly called summer sweet.  Bees love it.

[diggity]

I was initially thinking clethra too, but all the pix I found of it on the web seem to indicate that it is a shrub, whereas this stuff seems to grow as a weed about 2-3 feet tall.  Growth habit more like goldenrod than a typical shrub like, say, blueberry.  Then again, the info I've seen seems to be for domesticated varieties of clethra.  Maybe there is a wild cousin that is indeed less shrubby and more weedy?  Anyway, thanks for the info.  I'm interested in this because it does seem to bloom during the dearth around here.  And I'm seeing more of it than ever this year (or maybe just noticing it more).  Thanks!

[BjornBee]

No idea.

But go ahead and send me some seeds, and I'll grow it.  :-D

[ziffabeek]

The flowers look like some kind of laurel to me.  But the leaf is wrong.  Hmmm, a mystery!

[windfall]

Pretty sure it meadowsweet, If you seeing it roadside it probably isn't becoming "bush like" because it gets mowed down twice year, in which case you will get just one tall woody stem (like golden rod).

[diggity]

Interesting - I looked up meadowsweet pictures on the web and they don't all look the same.  I guess plant identification isn't easy sometimes.  Some of the meadowsweet pix look about right (especially the way the stem gets reddish beneath the flowers).  Now that I've got some hints, I'll grab some more pix at some point and try to make a positive ID.  Thanks all!

[kbee]

i think that it looks like a mist flower (eupatorium coelestinum) or a type of mist flower. that would be my guess

[Haddon]

I bet on meadowsweet.

[ziffabeek]

Oh, heck yeah.  Meadow sweet.  check out this picture:

http://www.ohio-nature.com/image-files/meadow-sweet-lg.jpg

ps.  Congrats to our winner - Windfall!

[AllenF]

Bingo.  We have a winner.

[windfall]

Glad to help, it's rare that I can do more than ask questions around here.