CROWFOOT FAMILY. Ranunculaceae. 



A frail and delicate sprins flower. 

 Rue Anemone i,-<l . ^ i 4- • i 



Anemoneiia Usually white but rarely magenta-pink- 



thalictroides tinged, which often blooms in company 

 White, or with Anemone qninquifolia, but readily 



plnk=tinged distinguished from it by the 2-3 flowers 

 in a cluster, the other bearing a solitary 

 blossom. The deep olive green leaves in groups of 

 three closely resemble those of the meadow rue ; they 

 are long-stemmed. The flower with usually six delicate 

 white petallike sepals, but there are variations of from 

 5-10. The flowers are perfect (with orange-yellow 

 anthers), and are probably cross-fertilized largely by the 

 early bees and beelike flies. 5-9 inches high. Common 

 everywhere in thin woodlands. 



Early Meadow A beautiful but not showy, slender 

 Rue meadow rue with the staminate and pistil- 



Thalictrum j^^^ flowers on separate plants. The 

 aioiciini 11-1 



Green terra= bluish olive green leaves lustreless, com- 

 cotta pound, and thinly spreading ; the droop- 



April-May ing staminate flowers with •generally four 



small green sepals, and long stamens tipped with terra- 

 cotta, and finally madder purple. The pistillate flowers 

 inconspicuously pale green. An airy and graceful 

 species, common in thin woodlands. 1-2 feet high. 

 Me., south to Ala., and west to Mo., S. Dak., and Kan. 



_ The commonest species, remarkable for 



Tall Meadow .^ ^ , , ^ \p ,-. a 



jjyg its starry plumy clusters of white flowers, 



Thalictrum lacking petals, but with many conspicuous 



polygamum threadlike stamens. The flowers are 



. polygamous, that is, with staminate, 



July-Septem= . ^.^, . -. . ^ ., 



Ijgj. pistillate, and perfect ones on the same or 



different plants. The leaves are com- 

 pound, with lustreless blue-olive green leaflets ; the 

 stout stem light green or magenta-tinged at the branches. 

 The decorative, misty white flower-clusters are often a 

 foot long ; the delicate-scented staminate flowers are a 

 decided tone of green- white. This species is an especial 

 favorite of many bees, moths, and smaller butterflies, by 

 which it is cross-fertilized. 3-10 feet high. Common 

 in wet meadows from Me., west to Ohio, and south. 



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