An ornamental bush from Japan that has escaped and made itself at home in our area. These plants were blooming in the Kane Woods Nature Area, where the showy drifts of white flowers punctuate the woods in the spring. There are two kinds of flowers: the little ones in the middle that actually do the work, and the sterile flowers around the edge of the corymb that act as the plant’s advertising agency, bringing in potential pollinators.
Once in a while, a plant bears all sterile flowers, which form a white ball that gives that form of the bush the name Japanese Snowball.
