The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

few-flower meadow-rue, mountain meadow-rue

Stems

erect, leafy, slender, (20-)30-100(-120) cm, glabrous.

Leaves

blade (2-)3-ternate;

leaflets obovate to orbiculate or cordate, usually 3-cleft and divisions 3-lobed, thin, 10-20 mm, surfaces abaxially often glandular-puberulent.

Inflorescences

axillary, 1-few flowers, diffuse, leafy;

bracts leaflike, large.

Flowers

pedicels abruptly recurved in fruit;

sepals whitish or greenish, often purplish tinged, elliptic, 2-3.5(-4) mm;

stamens 12-20, whitish;

filaments 3-4.5 mm;

anthers 0.5-0.8 mm.

Achenes

(4-)6-12;

stipe 0.3-1.5 mm;

body obliquely obovate to half-rhombic, strongly compressed, (4-)5-6 × 3-4 mm, abaxial margin straight, glabrous or glandular-puberulent, faintly 3-4(-5)-veined;

beak 1-1.5 mm.

Thalictrum sparsiflorum

Phenology Flowering late spring–summer (Jun–Aug).
Habitat Meadows, damp thickets, bogs, and coniferous, deciduous, and riparian woods
Elevation 0-3000 m (0-9800 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AK; CA; CO; ID; MT; NV; OR; UT; WY; AB; BC; MB; NT; ON; SK; YT; ne Asia
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

The Cheyenne the flowers and ground plants of Thalictrum sparsiflorum medicinally to make their horses "spirited, long-winded, and enduring" (D. E. Moerman 1986).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 3.
Parent taxa Ranunculaceae > Thalictrum > sect. Omalophysa
Sibling taxa
T. alpinum, T. amphibolum, T. arkansanum, T. clavatum, T. confine, T. cooleyi, T. coriaceum, T. dasycarpum, T. debile, T. dioicum, T. fendleri, T. heliophilum, T. macrostylum, T. minus, T. mirabile, T. occidentale, T. polycarpum, T. pubescens, T. texanum, T. thalictroides, T. venulosum
Synonyms T. sparsiflorum subsp. richardsonii, T. sparsiflorum var. nevadense, T. sparsiflorum var. richardsonii, T. sparsiflorum var. saximontanum
Name authority Turczaninow ex Fischer & C. A. Meyer: Index Sem. Hort. Petrop. 1: 40. (1835)
Web links