Early meadow-rue

Thalictrum dioicum, the early meadow-rue, is a graceful perennial herb in the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae) native to eastern and central North America. Plants grow 30-80 cm tall from a stout, knotty rhizome with fibrous yellowish roots. The stems are erect, slender, smooth, and somewhat glaucous, branching above. Leaves are alternate, large, and 2-4 times ternately compound, giving the plant a delicate, columbine-like appearance; the ultimate leaflets are rounded to obovate, 1-4 cm wide, pale green and glaucous beneath, with 3-12 shallow apical lobes. The species is dioecious: male and female flowers are borne on separate plants in loose, drooping terminal panicles in early spring. Flowers lack petals; staminate flowers have 4-5 small greenish-purple sepals and pendant clusters of yellow stamens with thread-like filaments, while pistillate flowers have small purple-tinged sepals and a cluster of erect, dry, ribbed achenes. It grows in rich deciduous forest, often on rocky slopes and along streams.