Thalictrum

Thalictrum
Thalictrum flavum
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
Order: Ranunculales
Family: Ranunculaceae
Subfamily: Isopyroideae
Tribe: Isopyreae
Subtribe: Thalictrinae
Genus: Thalictrum
Tourn. ex L.
Species

See text.

Thalictrum (pronunciation: /θəˈlɪktrəm/) is a genus of 120-200 species of herbaceous perennial flowering plants in the Ranunculaceae (buttercup) family native mostly to temperate regions.[1] Meadow-rue is a common name for plants in this genus.[2]

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 compound leaves twice or thrice divided.[3]:120

Description

Meadow-rue leaves are alternate, bipinnately compound, and 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.

Ecology

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. They are most common in temperate regions of the world, twenty-two species are found in North America.

Thalictrum species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including the Setaceous Hebrew Character moth.

Selected species

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.[4]

References

  1. ↑ "Thalictrum". Flora of North America (FNA). Missouri Botanical Garden – via eFloras.org.
  2. ↑ "Thalictrum". Natural Resources Conservation Service PLANTS Database. USDA. Retrieved 9 December 2015.
  3. ↑ Stace, C.A. (2010). New flora of the British isles (Third ed.). Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521707725.
  4. ↑ J. J. Willaman and H.-L. Liu, Lloydia (Supplement) (1970) 33 pp. 182-183.
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