Thalictrum
| Thalictrum | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Thalictrum flavum | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Division: | Magnoliophyta |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| Order: | Ranunculales |
| Family: | Ranunculaceae |
| Genus: | Thalictrum Tourn. ex L. |
| Species | |
|
See text. | |
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Thalictrum is a genus of 120-200 species of herbaceous perennial flowering plants in the Ranunculaceae (buttercup) family native mostly to temperate regions.[1]
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 the petiole twice or thrice divided.[2]
Habitat
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. It is most common in temperate regions of the world, twenty-two species are found in North America.
Leaves and flowers
The leaves are alternate, bipinnately compound, 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.
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.[3]
Ecology
Thalictrum species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including the Setaceous Hebrew Character moth.[citation needed]
Selected species
- Thalictrum alpinum – alpine meadow-rue
- Thalictrum aquilegiifolium – greater meadow-rue
- Thalictrum calabricum
- Thalictrum chelidonii
- Thalictrum clavatum – mountain meadow-rue
- Thalictrum cooleyi – Cooley's meadow-rue
- Thalictrum delavayi – Chinese meadow-rue
- Thalictrum diffusiflorum
- Thalictrum dioicum – early meadow-rue
- Thalictrum dipterocarpum
- Thalictrum fendleri – Fendler's meadow-rue
- Thalictrum flavum – yellow or common meadow-rue
- Thalictrum foeniculaceum
- Thalictrum foetidum
- Thalictrum foliolosum
- Thalictrum glaucum
- Thalictrum heliophilum
- Thalictrum ichangense
- Thalictrum javanicum
- Thalictrum kiusianum
- Thalictrum lucidum
- Thalictrum macrostylum – piedmont meadow-rue, small-leaved meadow-rue
- Thalictrum minus – lesser meadow-rue
- Thalictrum morrisonii
- Thalictrum occidentale – western meadow-rue
- Thalictrum orientale
- Thalictrum reniforme
- Thalictrum petaloideum
- Thalictrum polygamum – tall meadow-rue (syn. T. pubescens)
- Thalictrum revolutum – waxyleaf meadow-rue
- Thalictrum rochebrunianum
- Thalictrum simplex – small meadow-rue
- Thalictrum sparsiflorum – fewflower meadow-rue
- Thalictrum thalictroides – rue-anemone (syn. Anemonella thalictroides)
- Thalictrum tuberosum
- Thalictrum venulosum – early meadow-rue, veined meadow-rue
References
- ↑ Flora of North America: Thalictrum.
- ↑ Meadow Rue. The Century Dictionary
- ↑ J. J. Willaman and H.-L. Liu, Lloydia (Supplement) (1970) 33 pp. 182-183.