A member of the buttercup family and found in the open woodlands, rue anemone (Thalictrum thalictroides) has long, thin stems that tremble in the slightest of winds—prompting its other common name, windflower. Drawing upon this characteristic, its genus name honors the Greek god of wind, Anemos, who used the flowers as harbingers of spring. Another legend states that these flowers developed from the goddess of love, Venus, when her tears fell upon the ground as she wept over the death of Adonis, her lover.
Certain ancient peoples believed wind that had passed over a field of anemones was poisoned; the Persians even designated the flower as an emblem of illness. Because it grew well throughout the countryside in Palestine, Christians came to believe Christ spoke of one of the rue anemone’s relatives, the poppy anemone (Anemone coronaria; not native to the Blue Ridge), when he said, “Consider the lilies of the field…”
In addition, rue anemone is often found growing around the roots of trees, intermixed with the blossoms of the wood anemone (Anemone quinquefolia.
When looking to other sources for further information on rue anemone, you should be aware some reference books still follow an older classification of the plant when it was considered a monotypic plant—meaning a species with a genus all to itself—and named Anemonella thalictroides.
Flower Fast Facts
FLOWER: With one to three blossoms rising from the main stem, the one-inch-wide flowers have five to ten, white to pinkish sepals.
LEAVES AND STEM: A pair, or sometimes a whorl, of one-inch, ovate leaves are divided into three lobes and situated below the blossom. A set of basal leaves usually appear on the four- to eight-inch-high stem once the plant has stopped blooming.
BLOOM SEASON: March to May
About This Series
“Mountain Wildflowers” features a wildflower from the Blue Ridge region each month from March to October. Leonard M. Adkins has written for Blue Ridge Country for more than two decades and is the author of 20 books about travel, hiking and nature. His Wildflowers of the Appalachian Trail, which received the prestigious National Outdoor Book Award, provides the photographs and some of the information he writes about in each “Mountain Wildflowers.” It and his other works may be obtained through his website.
