Thalictrum


Thalictrum is a genus of 120-200 species of herbaceous perennial flowering plants in the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae, native mostly to temperate regions. Meadow-rue is a common name for plants in this genus.
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 not closely related to the true rue, but resemble its members in having compound leaves twice or thrice divided.

Description

Meadow-rue leaves are alternate, bipinnately compound, and commonly glaucous blue-green in colour.
The flowers are small and apetalous, but have numerous long stamens, often brightly white, yellow, pink or pale purple, and are produced in conspicuous dense inflorescences. In some species, the sepals are large, brightly coloured and petal-like, but in most they are small and fall when the flower opens or soon after.

Habitat and distribution

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.

Ecology

Anemophily is a characteristic of some members this genus, as seen in Thalictrum fendleri and Thalictrum dioicum. Others, such as Thalictrum sparsiflorum, are entomophilous.
Thalictrum species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including the Setaceous Hebrew Character moth.

Chemical constituents

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. Typical natural products found in this genus are benzylisoquinoline alkaloids, such as magnoflorine, hernandezine, and the structurally related alkaloid berberine.

Selected species

Thalictrum alpinum – alpine meadow-rueThalictrum aquilegiifolium – greater meadow-rueThalictrum chelidoniiThalictrum cooleyi – Cooley's meadow-rueThalictrum coreanumThalictrum clavatum - mountain meadow-rueThalictrum dasycarpumThalictrum delavayi – Chinese meadow-rueThalictrum dioicum – early meadow-rueThalictrum fendleri – Fendler's meadow-rueThalictrum filamentosumThalictrum flavum – yellow or common meadow-rueThalictrum heliophilum – cathedral meadow-rueThalictrum kiusianum – Kyushu meadow-rue, dwarf meadow-rueThalictrum minus – lesser meadow-rueThalictrum occidentale – western meadow-rueThalictrum pubescensThalictrum revolutum - waxyleaf meadow-rueThalictrum rochebruneanum – lavender mist meadow-rueThalictrum sparsiflorum – fewflower meadow-rueThalictrum speciosissimumThalictrum thalictroides – rue-anemone Thalictrum tuberosum

Cultivation

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'
  • 'Elin'
  • 'Splendide White'
  • 'Tukker Princess'