Tribe Isopyreae Scientific name Thalictrum Rank Genus | Subfamily Isopyroideae Subtribe Thalictrinae | |
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Lower classifications Thalictrum aquilegiifolium, Thalictrum minus, Thalictrum thalictroides, Stinking Meadow‑rue, Thalictrum dioicum | ||
Meadow rue thalictrum rochebrunianum tall flowering perennial lavender flowers
Thalictrum ( /θəˈlɪktrəm/) is a genus of 120-200 species of herbaceous perennial flowering plants in the Ranunculaceae (buttercup) family native mostly to temperate regions. Meadow-rue is a common name for plants in this genus.
Contents
- Meadow rue thalictrum rochebrunianum tall flowering perennial lavender flowers
- Plant portrait rue anemone thalictrum thalictroides
- Description
- Ecology
- Selected species
- Chemical constituents
- References
Thalictrum is a taxonomically difficult genus with poorly understood species boundaries; it is in need of further taxonomic and field research for clarification.
Despite their common name of "meadow-rue", Thalictrum species are unrelated to the true rue (family Rutaceae), but resemble its members in having compound leaves twice or thrice divided.
Plant portrait rue anemone thalictrum thalictroides
Description
Meadow-rue leaves are alternate, bipinnately compound, and commonly glaucous blue-green in colour.
The flowers are small and apetalous (no petals), but have numerous long stamens, often brightly white, yellow, pink or pale purple, and are produced in conspicuous dense inflorescences. In some species (e.g. T. chelidonii, T. tuberosum), the sepals are large, brightly coloured and petal-like, but in most they are small and fall when the flower opens or soon after.
Ecology
Meadow-rues are usually found in shaded or damp locations, with a sub-cosmopolitan range throughout most of the Northern Hemisphere and also south to southern Africa and tropical South America, but absent from Australasia. They are most common in temperate regions of the world, twenty-two species are found in North America.
Thalictrum species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including the Setaceous Hebrew Character moth.
Selected species
Chemical constituents
Thalictrum species have been extensively studied by chemists. Typical natural products found in this genus are benzylisoquinoline alkaloids such as magnoflorine and the structurally related alkaloid berberine.