FALSE RUE ANEMONE
File Size: 26 KB
 
Enemion biternatum  Raf.
[=Isopyrum biternatum  (Raf. ) T. & G.]
Jefferson County, Kansas
Perennial
Height: 6-16 inches
Family: Ranunculaceae - Buttercup Family
Flowering Period:   April, May
Stems: Slender, wiry, glabrous, branched.
Leaves: Alternate and basal, compound; leaflets 3, broadly egg-shaped, 2/5 to 1 inch long, irregularly 2-3-lobed; lobes sometimes with secondary lobes; tips rounded; basal leaves with 3 principal divisions, each with 3 leaflets, stalks 1.6 to 5.6 inches long; stem leaves short-stalked to sessile.
Inflorescences: Solitary or loose 2-4-flowered groups, from leaf axils.
Flowers: Sepals 4-5, petal-like, 1/4 to 1/2 inch across, white; petals absent; stamens 25-50.
Fruits: Pods, sessile, ovate, compressed, 1/8 to 1/5 inch long, upright to widely divergent, 3-seeded; style on each pod 1/20 to 1/12 inch long, straight or curved.
Habitat: Moist deciduous woods and thickets; often on rocky, calcareous soils.
Distribution: East 1/3 of Kansas.
Comments: The roots have tuber-like thickenings.
 Sometimes mistaken for rue anemone Anemonella thalictroides . Rue anemone is often solitary, occurs on drier sites, has a whorl of 6 leaflets below the flower, and has 5-8 petal-like sepals. False rue anemone leaves are deeply lobed.

False rue anemone
39 KB
Jefferson County, Kansas
False rue anemone flowers
39 KB
Jefferson County, Kansas
False rue anemone leaflets
34 KB
Jefferson County, Kansas
False rue anemone leaflets
52 KB
Jefferson County, Kansas
False rue anemone flower
40 KB
Jefferson County, Kansas
False rue anemone flowers and pods
34 KB
Jefferson County, Kansas