Common meadow-rue

Thalictrum flavum (common meadow-rue, yellow meadow-rue) is a herbaceous perennial in the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae), growing 60–120 cm tall from short fibrous-rooted rhizomes. The erect, leafy, slightly grooved green stems bear alternate, two- to three-times pinnate compound leaves; the wedge- to obovate-shaped leaflets are 1–3 cm long, dark green above and paler glaucous beneath, with a few rounded apical teeth. From June to August the plant produces showy, dense, fluffy terminal panicles of small flowers; the four small whitish sepals fall early so the conspicuous yellow appearance comes from the numerous erect golden stamens. The fruit is a cluster of small ribbed achenes, three or more developing from each flower. Its native range spans temperate Eurasia and North Africa, from Algeria across Europe to Russia, Siberia, Kazakhstan, Turkey, and western China, where it grows in marshy meadows, fens, wet ditches, riverbanks, and damp grasslands on lime-rich alluvial soils.