Thalictrum occidentale / western meadow-rue

Adjectives: clonal, dioecious, early spring, edible, native

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Western meadow-rue is a rhizomatous perennial whose yellow roots have been used as a source of yellow dye. It is a delicate plant and pretty common, especially on forest stream banks (e.g. Grove Creek or Darby Creek). It can also grow in moister meadows. However, it often goes unnoticed because it doesn’t have showy flowers and those it has are there for only a short time.

In early spring, western meadow-rue may be mistaken for columbine because of its leaf shape, and undoubtedly partly as a reflexion of wishful thinking on your part. When either species is flowering, confusion requires a lot of work on your part.

The leaves are distinctive even when there are no flowers. First, they look very delicate (columbine leaves are much thicker even if they are not really thick). They have  compound blades with variable numbers of segments, each of which usually has 3 lobes. The lobes are round-ish with large but blunt teeth. The are borne on long, slender petioles, mostly being stem leaves with only a few basal leaves. Overall, the plants are from 1 to 3 feet tall.

Western meadow-rue flowers are far less attention getting than the leaves, and even if you see the plant flowering, you might be confused initially because the species is dioecious – male and female flowers are on different plants (this is not characteristic of ALL species of Thalictrum, however). Often, there are clumps of plants of single sexes, so you could see both sexes in nearby clumps and think that they might be different species. That the flowers are not showy reflects the fact that they are wind pollinated and thus have no use for petals.

On both sexes, the inflorescence is an upright or arching panicle of flowers with leaflike, lobed bracts often growing at the base. This is clear in several of the gallery photos.

The male flower has a bell-shaped calyx that is often greenish white, but may be purple. Dangling from that are many long, purple stamens tipped with large, pointy purple anthers. They look really weird if you have a preconceived notion of what stamens and anthers look like.

The female flowers are star shaped and reddish-purple. Each has a cluster of purple stigmas less than 1/4 inch long (including the styles) behind which are immature fruits, again, a weird arrangement imho. Typically, the clusters are of 4 to 9 styles/fruits.

Interesting bits: The young leaves are edible raw or cooked and have a sweet, almost saccharine taste (so they say).

The roots contain berberine, a fluorescent yellow dye and a supposedly “highly valued antiseptic/antibacterial chemical”. Taking this internally might be as safe as injecting bleach… don’t. As the Wikipedia article on berberine notes, for example, “The safety of using berberine for any condition is not adequately defined by high-quality clinical research. Its potential for causing adverse effects is high, including untoward interactions with prescription drugs, reducing the intended effect of established therapies. It is particularly unsafe for use in children. There is considerable evidence that berberine is toxic.”