Meadow Rue

meadow rue, any plant of the genus Thalictrum of the family Ranunculaceae (buttercup family). Most are tall perennials (up to 7 ft/2.1 m high) bearing summer flowers with showy, pendent tassels of long stamens, greenish sepals, and no petals. Meadow rues are found in moist, open places throughout northern temperate regions; in the United States they are especially abundant in the Northeast. A few species are cultivated for ornament. The European herb called rue is an unrelated plant. Meadow rue is classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Magnoliopsida, order Ranunculales, family Ranunculaceae.

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Meadow Rue 

(Thalictrum), a genus of perennial herbaceous plants of the Ranunculaceae family. The leaves are regular and pinnatifid. The flowers are small, with a usually four-leaved perianth and numerous long stamens; they are gathered into panicular, umbellate, or racemic inflorescences. There are 120 species in Europe, Asia, America, and Africa. In the USSR there are more than 20 species, of which the most common are yellow meadow rue (T. flavum), found almost everywhere on moist meadows; T. minus, found on dry hillocks, steppes, meadows, and forest borders; and T. aquilegifolium, found in forests and thickets. Several species of meadow rue are cultivated in gardens as ornamentals.

REFERENCE

Nevskii, S. A. “Vasilistnik.” In Flora SSSR, vol. 7. Moscow-Leningrad, 1937.