RANUNCULACEAE CROWFOOT FAMILY 
RUE ANEMONE 
Anemonella thalictroides (L.) Spach 
Rue Anemone gets its name by having flowers like an Ane- 
mone and leaves like the Meadow Rue. It is a common perennial 
in woods throughout eastern United States as far west as Kansas 
and Minnesota, blooming 
from March to June. The 
roots of this plant are clus- 
tered and resemble minute 
Sweet Potatoes. 
In early spring the 
flowering stem arises 4-9 
inches high, usually with 
no leaves except those of the 
involucre. The latter has 
2 or 3 sessile leaves, each 
with 3 trilobed leaflets on 
long slender petiolules; this 
gives the effect of a whorl 
of 6, or as shown, g simple 
leaves. 
There are generally 3 
flowers, of which the 
middle one blooms 
frst. Uhete is no Sey 
corolla but the calyx 
consists of 5-10 sepals, 
white or sometimes 
pinkish and quite con- 
spicuous. Stamens 
are numerous and 
there are 4-15 pistils 
whose ovaries develop into deeply grooved, pointed akenes up 
to one-half inch long and sessile. In rare instances the sepals, 
stamens or involucre are variously modified. 
The basal leaves are long petioled and twice compound as 
shown, and appear after the flowers. 
The False Rue Anemone, page 108, closely resembles this plant, 
and differences between them should be carefully noted. 
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