ALPINE MEADOW-RUE

Thalictrum alpinum

Buttercup Family [Ranunculaceae]

month8jun month8june month8jul month8july

status
statusZnative
flower
flower8pink
flower
flower8red
inner
inner8white
morph
morph8actino
petals
petalsZ4
stem
stem8round
sex
sexZbisexual

7th Feb 2015, Teesdale, England. Photo: © Dawn Nelson
Alpine Meadow-rue grows erect but only rarely exceeds 15cm high. It has rhizomous roots. The flowers are spaced well apart and droop downwards, especially the long stamens. Professor Clive Stace says they are pale yellow - however the books show it with 4 purple sepals/tepals, long white very thin filaments supporting long yellow anthers. I guess colours change with age and environmental conditions as the plant ages.


5th July 2014, Teesdale, England. Photo: © Dawn Nelson
The stem is very thin and the simple leaves (unseen here) vary between 2-pinnate to a whorl of three.


Alpine Meadow-rue grows at altitudes from sea level up to 1210 metres high, but is mostly found above 300m height. Apart from a small gathering around the Glydder Fawr mountain in North Wales and a few spaced locations Paterdale and Boot in the Lake District and a few other locations around Newton Stewart and a larger mostly un-named region in the mountains between Ettrick, Moffat and Talla Linnfoots most of the occurrence is in the extensive mountains of Northern Scotland.

Lesser Meadow-Rue (Thalictrum minus) grows much taller, up to 1.2metres!

Common Meadow-Rue (Thalictrum flavum) grows even taller to 1.5m high.


  Thalictrum alpinum  ⇐ Global Aspect ⇒ Ranunculaceae  

Distribution
 family8Buttercup family8Ranunculaceae
 BSBI maps
genus8Thalictrum
Thalictrum
(Meadow-Rues)

ALPINE MEADOW-RUE

Thalictrum alpinum

Buttercup Family [Ranunculaceae]