a genus of deciduous shrubs of the family Rosa-ceae. The shrubs range in height from 40 cm to 6 m. The light or dark green compound leaves are oddly pinnate and have persistent stipules; in the autumn they turn yellow or carmine. There usually are linear, pointed, and doubly serrate leaflets. The small, pentamerous flowers are white or pink and gathered into large terminal pyramidal panicles. The fruit consists of five follicles, which are connate at the bases and dehiscent along the ventral suture.

There are ten species, distributed in Asia. Four species grow in the USSR—in Middle Asia, Siberia, and the Far East. S. sorbifolia grows in Siberia, the Soviet Far East, China, Korea, Mongolia, and Japan. It is found along marshes and the shores of mountain and forest rivers; it often forms dense thickets. Sorbaria is cultivated in orchards and parks as hedges and to reinforce shorelines and slopes.