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For Your Garden - October 2021
Native plants provide beauty as well as food and shelter for wildlife. Native species are adapted to the Illinois climate. They require little or no watering and are resistant to drought, insects and most diseases. Because they are perennials, you can welcome their presence year after year.
early meadow rue (Thalictrum dioicum)
Photo © River Valley Photographic Resources Ltd., rvprltd.com
Early meadow rue grows in rich woods and prairies statewide. It has alternate, compound leaves, each up to one foot long. Flowers are borne in April and May. Plants produce either male or female flowers. The flowers develop in clusters at the stem tip, and they droop. There are no petals. The sepals are green-white to purple-brown. The flowers are pollinated by wind. A single plant may be up to two and one-half feet tall. The fruits are dry, hard and one-seeded. Some moth larvae feed on the leaves and stems.
Classification and taxonomy are based on Mohlenbrock, Robert H. 2014. Vascular flora of Illinois: A field guide. Fourth edition. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale. 536 pp.
Illinois Range
Native Plant Information
For more information about Illinois native plants, visit our Native Habitat Descriptions, Requirements, and Plant Lists page. The following publications are available from the IDNR on our publications page.
Taxonomy
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Ranunculales
Family: Ranunculaceae
Illinois Status: common, native
