thalictrum

Meadow-rue leaves are alternate, bipinnately compound, and commonly glaucous blue-green in colour.{{cn|date=September 2024}}

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.{{cn|date=September 2024}}

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.{{cn|date=September 2024}}

Anemophily (wind pollination) is a characteristic of some members this genus, as seen in Thalictrum fendleri and Thalictrum dioicum. Others, such as Thalictrum sparsiflorum, are entomophilous (pollinated by insects).{{Cite journal |last1=Steven |first1=Janet |last2=Waller |first2=Donald |date=2004 |title=Reproductive alternatives to insect pollination in four species of Thalictrum (Ranunculaceae) |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227512644 |journal=Plant Species Biology |volume=19 |issue=2 |pages=73–80 |doi=10.1111/j.1442-1984.2004.00103.x |bibcode=2004PSBio..19...73S |access-date=6 December 2018}}

Thalictrum species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including the Setaceous Hebrew Character moth.{{citation needed|date=May 2012}}

In addition to alkaloids, Thalictrum species produce many other classes of metabolites, including triterpenoids and triterpenoid glycosides, flavonoids, cyanogenic glycosides, hydrocarbons, alcohols with high molecular weight, fatty acids, phenolic compounds and sterols.{{Cite journal |last1=Khamidullina |first1=Elena A. |last2=Gromova |first2=Alexandra S. |last3=Lutsky |first3=Vladislav I. |last4=Owen |first4=Noel L. |year=2006 |title=Natural products from medicinal plants: non-alkaloidal natural constituents of the Thalictrum species |journal=Natural Product Reports |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=117–129 |doi=10.1039/b504014k |issn=0265-0568 |pmid=16453035}}{{Cite journal |last1=Khamidullina |first1=Elena A. |last2=Gromova |first2=Alexandra S. |last3=Lutsky |first3=Vladislav I. |last4=Owen |first4=Noel L. |date=2006 |title=Natural products from medicinal plants: non-alkaloidal natural constituents of the Thalictrum species |journal=ChemInform |volume=37 |issue=22 |doi=10.1002/chin.200622292 |issn=0931-7597}}{{better source needed|date=September 2023}} Typical natural products found in this genus are benzylisoquinoline alkaloids, such as magnoflorine, hernandezine, and the structurally related alkaloid berberine.{{citation needed|date=September 2023}}

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• Thalictrum alpinum – alpine meadow-rue
• Thalictrum aquilegiifolium – greater meadow-rue
• Thalictrum chelidonii
• Thalictrum cooleyi – Cooley's meadow-rue
• Thalictrum coreanum
• Thalictrum clavatum - mountain meadow-rue
• Thalictrum dasycarpum
• Thalictrum delavayi – Chinese meadow-rue
• Thalictrum dioicum – early meadow-rue
• Thalictrum fendleri – Fendler's meadow-rue
• Thalictrum filamentosum
• Thalictrum flavum – yellow or common meadow-rue
• Thalictrum heliophilum – cathedral meadow-rue
• Thalictrum kiusianum – Kyushu meadow-rue, dwarf meadow-rue
• Thalictrum minus – lesser meadow-rue
• Thalictrum occidentale – western meadow-rue
• Thalictrum pubescens
• Thalictrum revolutum - waxyleaf meadow-rue
• Thalictrum rochebruneanum – lavender mist meadow-rue
• Thalictrum sparsiflorum – fewflower meadow-rue
• Thalictrum speciosissimum
• Thalictrum thalictroides – rue-anemone (syn. Anemonella thalictroides)
• Thalictrum tuberosum
• Thalictrum urbainii

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Thalictrum species are valued as ornamental garden plants, with their sprays of flowers in delicate shades. The following cultivars, with mixed or unknown parents, have received the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit:

• 'Black Stockings'{{Cite web |title=Thalictrum 'Black Stockings' |url=https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/221893/Thalictrum-Black-Stockings/Details |access-date=5 March 2021 |publisher=RHS}}
• 'Elin'{{Cite web |title=Thalictrum 'Elin' |url=https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/143574/Thalictrum-Elin/Details |access-date=5 March 2021 |publisher=RHS}}
• 'Splendide White' (Fr21034){{Cite web |title=Thalictrum, 'Splendide White' = 'Fr21034' |url=https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/343696/Thalictrum-Splendide-White-Fr21034-(PBR)/Details |access-date=5 March 2021 |publisher=RHS}}
• 'Tukker Princess'{{Cite web |title=Thalictrum 'Tukker Princess' |url=https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/309046/Thalictrum-Tukker-Princess/Details |access-date=5 March 2021 |publisher=RHS}}

Thalictrum aquilegifolium, RBGE 2010, 3.jpg|Thalictrum aquilegiifolium

Thalictrum chelidonii03.jpg|Thalictrum chelidonii

Thalictrum coreanum2.jpg|Thalictrum coreanum

Thalictrum dasycarpum 1-eheep (5098007362).jpg|Thalictrum dasycarpum

Thalictrum delavayi.jpg|Thalictrum delavayi flowers

Thalictrum dioicum (1).jpg|Early meadow-rue (Thalictrum dioicum)

Thalictrum filamentosum 1.jpg|Thalictrum filamentosum

Thalictrum flavum1.jpg|Thalictrum flavum leaves

Thalictrum glaucum0.jpg|Thalictrum glaucum flowers

Thalictrum kiusianum1.jpg|Thalictrum kiusianum

Thalictrumoccidentale1.jpg|Female flowers of Thalictrum occidentale

Thalictrum rochebrunnianum.jpg|Thalictrum rochebrunnianum

Thalictrum thalictroides - Rue Anemone.jpg|Rue-anemone (Thalictrum thalictroides)

Thalictrum tuberosum 1.JPG|Thalictrum tuberosum

Thalictrum urbainii1.jpg|Thalictrum urbainii

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Category:Ranunculaceae genera

Category:Taxa named by Joseph Pitton de Tournefort